Lacunae
by Bat the Wood Elf
Summary: AU H.E.L.L. : Human Evolution Lacuna Laboratory. A secret organization cloning ancient corpses. Seems straitforward enough, but why go to such lengths to play God? YY, RB, SJ COMPLETE
1. Fortuna

Lacunae By Bat the Wood Elf  
  
  
  
Author's note: Hey everyone! I've been around reviewing, but under the name Cat. This is my first post on FF.net.. I haven't written in years actually, so my writing skills are far below my own standards.. (sigh) Ah well. Practice makes perfect, ne? I'm sure that if enough people criticize me or bash me over the head with something, I'll improve! And that's what I really want. So go ahead. Flame me! ^.^ I like the attention.  
  
Ok, this is my first attempt at something remotely yaoi.. So guys, you gotta help me out. REVIEW! I need the love! (tears in eyes, sighs dramatically)  
  
Bat: Ah! And now for the formalities, ne Yami-chan? ^.^  
  
Yami: (muffled groan) She doesn't own aibou, YuGiOh, or me at all. She's a poor college student that has only gotten by because for some reason unknown too all but Ra, people think she's smart. // When we all know she's an idiot. Remember that time we played @$$_ole and I beat her 25 consecutive times in a row aibou? //  
  
Yugi: / (giggle) I think she enjoyed being the um. janitor. /  
  
Bat: Not fair! I know you're talking to each other, both your eyes glazed over!  
  
Yami: (mutters) That insolent fool.  
  
Bat: What did you say?  
  
Yugi: (Covers Yami's mouth before he can say something nasty in reply) He said, 'the weather is really cool.'  
  
Bat: . oh. OK! ^.^  
  
Yami: ..  
  
Bat: Now on with the story!  
  
Chapter 1: Fortuna  
  
Yugi raced through the frigid rain, desperately trying to outrun his soon to be attackers. His will to live was what helped him run at a speed that should have been impossible for his small size.  
  
He ignored the clothes sticking to his body; he ignored the blinding rain and only tried to concentrate on the sound of their jeering voices.  
  
'Where are they? Are they close?' he thought to himself, but didn't dare to look back.  
  
Yugi still didn't understand why he was a bully magnet. Maybe it was because of his small stature. All he knew was that it was for lunch money yesterday, to frighten him today, and might be to kill him tomorrow.  
  
So he ran. At least that way, he had a chance.  
  
Luck was with him. Up ahead was a crowd of people waiting to cross the street. All he had to do was hide among them..  
  
'No.' he shook his head, dismissing the thought.  
  
'They would just drag me away to someplace like that alley and beat me there.. Wait a minute. that alley. I might be able to hide there. by the time they get through the crowd they wont know where I went. It's my only chance right now.'  
  
He pushed through the people and hurried into the alley.  
  
Yugi's face brightened immediately. "There's a door! I can hide in there! I'm sure that whoever lives here wont mind if I explain everything to them." he murmured.  
  
There was no lock on the plain looking door; it was only marked with the address '333' ( A.N.: Half way to H.E.L.L.! ^.^ Sorry about the pun.)  
  
He ran in and quickly shut the door behind him, only to be greeted by flights of stairs that seemed endless.  
  
Yugi groaned, but ran down as fast as he could. He could hear them now, they had no qualms about yelling and made no attempt to use stealth in their chase.  
  
So he ran down the stairs, into the bowels of the building.  
  
He was pretty far down and didn't hear the clink of their shoes on the metal stairs, so he stopped and attempted to listen to what they were saying.  
  
Their gruff voices echoed in the empty stairwell. "This is the Domino city morgue, isn't it?" One asked, snickering.  
  
"Yeah, I think it is." another one answered, "Lets see how the midget likes a date with the dead instead of us!"  
  
Yet another one laughed cruelly and said, "If we push that dumpster outside in front of the door, his date could last all night."  
  
Yugi's heart sank as he heard the roaring laughter and the audible click of the door, along with what he knew to be the screech of the dumpster being placed in front of the door.  
  
Yugi resigned to his fate. He was trapped.  
  
Not seeing the point of running anymore, he slowly made his way down the rest of the stairs, tears running down his cheeks.  
  
  
  
Bat: Ok peeps! Its review time! I know it was short, but I need to know if people like it before I continue. There's no point to continue if there are no reviews. I have the next chapter written up and everything, all I need are 5 measly reviews, and I'll post it.  
  
Just 5 reviews! So DON'T READ AND RUN!!!!  
  
Yugi meets Yami in the next chapter. come on, you've gotta be a LITTLE curious! ^.^  
  
As for all you Ryou and Bakura fans, don't despair, they're going to play a leading part in this! I promise! Seto and Jou will also make an appearance. but if they end up together depends on the response I get. ^.^ By the way, don't worry; I'll explain the title a little later on.  
  
So. Is it bad? Hopeless? Or is it salvageable? 


	2. Umbra

Bat: Well, here it is, like I promised! ^.^ I caved in actually... four reviews did a lot for my ego! The next chapter is more interesting in my opinion at least...Thank you so much to my reviewers! I was so happy! Waii! Thank you Asian Angel 12, Keiko, G.O.D., Blue Lagoon Loon and Jada Flame! They're not exactly aliens though... the yamis are more like super sophisticated clones, their bodies created from the DNA that H.E.L.L. took from the bodies found in Yami's tomb... I think I'm giving a little too much away there, but hey, whatever. ^.^  
  
I'm swamped with work this week, so it might take a while for me to update. But I'm a natural born procrastinator. If you harass me enough, I'll write it. I swear, I'll use any excuse to get out of doing homework!  
  
Well, guess what! I got another plant! I'm soooo happy! I love plants! What can I say; love of nature comes naturally to wood elves. (wink)  
  
Ohhh.. Speaking of elves, is everyone as excited as me for the special edition of The Fellowship of the Ring? And Harry Potter? I'm going in the first day it comes out here, without a doubt! ^-^  
  
Anyways, this is where I shut up.  
  
  
  
Chapter 2: Umbra  
  
  
  
Yugi reached the door at the bottom of the stairs and opened it, only to be blinded by the bright light bouncing off pure white walls. Ahead of him was a row of more doors.  
  
Yugi groaned. "I hope this isn't where they store the bodies."  
  
He walked forward, his wet shoes squeaking as he dragged them. He tried to open the first door, but it was locked. Which was strange, because there was no lock where a key could be placed.  
  
He observed the door more closely and noticed a pad. It was well hidden among the whiteness of the door. Someone who wasn't paying attention would have missed it altogether. Yugi was almost certain that it was to analyse thumbprints.  
  
"This place is strange," he murmured to himself. " It looks so plain and simple, but the technology is definitely state of the art. I get the impression that whoever runs this place is trying to hide it."  
  
He placed his thumb on the pad, and to his surprise, the door opened.  
  
'How is that possible? It shouldn't be letting me in.' he mused to himself. 'Maybe the computer likes me."  
  
He gathered his courage and stepped into the room.  
  
* * * *  
  
He had noticed the small presence as soon as it had entered the building. There was no way he could have missed it.  
  
After all, he was plugged into the security system.  
  
His body might have been in another room, but he had connected himself to the main computer. Wires were protruding from his arms and head, and his eyes were closed as if he was dead. Which in a way he was.  
  
The young boy who had just entered the building didn't know it, but this was H.E.L.L. - the Human Evolutionary Lacuna Laboratory. The whole morgue thing was just pretence. It kept the general public out, and the government overlooked it. After all, what was so interesting about dead people?  
  
The government had no need to know that they were 30 years ahead of all that cloning sheep crap.  
  
Here, they were creating the perfect humans. Cyborgs, actually. And not any simple human DNA would do. It had to belong to ancient humans from Egypt. For what reason, he didn't know.  
  
And he was considered their most perfect creation. Once again he couldn't understand why. He had seen some of the other experiments. They all were like machines: emotionless. Fearless. If they were out to create the perfect human, wouldn't they be the perfect ones?  
  
He was created from the DNA of an Egyptian pharaoh rumoured to be so ruthless, that his name was forcefully erased from history forever. But he wouldn't know, he had no memory of what he used to be.  
  
All he knew was that he didn't feel 'ruthless'. In fact, all he felt was terribly lonely. Although that shouldn't have been possible, since he was mostly a machine. None of the others felt like he did...  
  
Each night after the staff had left, he merged his mind with the computer, and sifted through any findings H.E.L.L. had made during the day.  
  
He didn't destroy them. That would have been too obvious. He only made them difficult to find, or changed some variables in their equations.  
  
After all, there shouldn't be any others like him created. To play with life like a god was wrong. And it was cruel.  
  
The after-hours day had started off as usual. He had expected the rest of the night to proceed as usual.  
  
But then HE came.  
  
The main computer was connected to the security system, and he checked it at regular intervals to make sure no one caught him in his nightly escapades. He never expected to actually see someone.  
  
The boy physically looked surprisingly a lot like him. And he was alone and lost. Like he was. He couldn't help but feel attached to the boy, so he didn't hinder his passage. In fact, he overrode several security measures to allow him to enter freely.  
  
And there he was, standing in the data room, where electronics monitored the other specimens. There was a screen in the room. And he knew the boy was facing it thanks to the cameras.  
  
He gathered his courage, and decided to try and talk to the boy.  
  
* * * *  
  
Yugi nearly jumped out of his skin when a computer beeped and turned itself on. Yugi was certain that the blue screen was blank at first, but after blinking he saw a message sprawled across the screen.  
  
'What are you doing in this place little hikari?'  
  
Yugi nearly fainted.  
  
'Go ahead and speak. I will hear you.'  
  
Trembling with fear, Yugi scanned the room. It was empty if you didn't count all the computers.  
  
Yugi somehow found his voice. "W-where are you?"  
  
Another message flashed on the screen. 'In another room.'  
  
"H-how d-did y-you know I-I was here?" Yugi asked.  
  
For a moment, he would have believed the machines were amused by his question, but he dismissed that thought. Machines didn't have a sense of humour.  
  
'This place has many security cameras.'  
  
Upon seeing Yugi scan the room frantically for a camera, another message flashed on the screen.  
  
'You wont find any, they are the size of a pin.'  
  
Yugi's legs collapsed from under him. "Oh." He breathed.  
  
'Don't worry. I'm erasing the footage as we speak. You wont get into any trouble. What is your name?'  
  
"Thank you.... My name is Mutou Yugi. Who are you?" Yugi murmured, his fear slowly leaving him. After all, whoever this person was, they seemed very kind. It wasn't awkward talking to thin air anymore.  
  
'I don't know.'  
  
"Oh." Yugi said his eyebrows scrunched quizzically. "Do you have a name?"  
  
'Not really... but if you must call me something, you may call me 'Yami'.'  
  
"Alright!" Yugi smiled brightly. "Maybe we could be friends Yami."  
  
'Perhaps.'  
  
There was a small silence, in which only the hum of the computers could be heard.  
  
'You must leave this place.'  
  
Yugi couldn't help feeling stung by the message. He wanted to make friends, but this person wanted him to leave.  
  
'If anyone found you here, we would be in more trouble than you could imagine.'  
  
Yugi's curiosity was stirred at the 'we' part, but he didn't ask anything.  
  
'I'll open the other exits. Simply follow the open doors.'  
  
"But.. I haven't even seen you, Yami.."  
  
There was another silence.  
  
Then the computer screen flashed another message. 'You must leave.'  
  
Yugi hung his head his head in disappointment. No one ever seemed to want him. Tears stung at his eyes. Yami was cold. Like the machine he was presently talking to.  
  
The computer seemed to hesitate. Another message appeared. 'However... If you wish, you may return tomorrow.'  
  
Yugi's heart leapt with joy. He was wrong, Yami wanted to see him again; he just didn't know how to say so!  
  
'But you must come after the staff leaves... that is to say, at around 5 o'clock.'  
  
Yugi smiled brightly and enthusiastically nodded his head. "I understand Yami! Will I be able to see you tomorrow?"  
  
'Perhaps.' To Yugi, the computers almost seemed to smirk, and he was glad no one was around... they would think he was crazy, talking to a computer and attributing a human personality to it.  
  
And that was it. The screen flashed off, becoming black. The door behind him opened and Yugi took it as a hint that he was supposed to leave now.  
  
"Thank you," he murmured, unaware that his words had reached the cyborg in the other room. A small smile played on the former pharaoh's lips.  
  
After years of isolation, of being regarded as less then human, or rather, inhuman, he had found a friend. And he wasn't about to give up this friend.  
  
"I'll protect him." He vowed to himself, some unknown light flashing in his blank eyes.  
  
"Nothing shall ever harm Yugi. EVER. He might look like me, but I shall make sure that he shall never feel the pain I felt."  
  
A smirk played on his lifeless face. "Kaiba underestimated me. He can't keep his 'perfect creation' in this cage forever."  
  
  
  
So, what do you think? Ooooo... How is Kaiba associated to H.E.L.L.? ^.^ I'm not telling, but you are free to guess.  
  
Urgh... for me to continue right now, I'd need a few morale boosting reviews. Well, not really, but I'm just really busy and it's a good excuse to try and get people to review. You know, I really admire those people who don't give up on their stories because of a lack of reviews. THAT'S THE SPIRIT GUYS! ^O^  
  
Ok... Ryou and Bakura are definitely in the next chapter. And this story will have (dun dun duuuunn) A PLOT! Yes folks, Bat's little brain is about to kick into high gear!  
  
By the way, please tell me if there are any typos, or if there's anything wrong about the appearance of the text. I tried to fix more of it this time, but I'm sure I missed some. Arghh.. I cant get the "..." (Three dots) to work! Could someone give me a hint on how to fix that? 


	3. Inferno

Wow! I'm so happy! Thank you for all the reviews! O.O  
  
(tears in eyes) I love you guys!  
  
I should be studying for macroeconomics right now actually... or writing a composition about Julius Caesar. Or Studying for my computer test, or writing my psychology essay... I could go on! See what I meant? I have no self-discipline! I succumb to peer pressure! ^.^  
  
Ok, it Q an' A time!  
  
Ok. Will Malik and his Yami be in here?  
  
Well, I spent a good two days thinking about that after I had read your review Keiko, G.O.D, and I thought 'Sure, why not, they're super cool...' but I had no damn clue how to add them in without only giving them a minor role. (Or making them completely OCC, cause I don't know all that much about them.) So while I was writing this history essay about Julius Caesar's military campaign in Gaul late the night before its due, it hit me! I knew exactly how I could have Malik in here! YAY!  
  
Before, the doctor was going to be some random character, but as a general rule, I don't like original characters. So it's all good! ^.^  
  
LOL! Among my friends I'm renown for writing never ending stories. I promised myself that I wouldn't get in over my head, but hey, what the hell! This plot is getting more elaborate by the day!  
  
How are Jounouchi and Seto connected?  
  
Wow, there's a lot of people that like Jou and Seto together! (Nods in agreement) Well, to tell you the truth, I only have a vague idea about that... I'll think about it on the city bus heading to school... for some strange reason, my best ideas pop up in crowded, loud, annoying places.  
  
Will Kaiba be evil?  
  
I'll try and keep him as in character as possible..., which may prove to be difficult. This IS an AU, and my first YGO fic...Lets just say 'he has his reasons' When he does something somewhat evil. ^.^ But if he gets too out of character, you guys better warn me!  
  
Hehe. Thanks for telling me about the anonymous reviews Bishiehuggler! I fixed it! ^.^  
  
And I managed to fix my '...'! I need to do three rows of three dots for it to work! I'm so proud of myself! Thanks anyways though Asian Angel 12!  
  
Yeah, plants are great... If I had the money, I'd get myself a bonsai. Aren't those the cutest?  
  
So, when are Ryou and Bakura coming? Scroll down and see!  
  
PS: I don't own anything.  
  
Chapter 3 Inferno  
  
Ryou's father was home for one of those rare times this morning. He was rushing around the house, madly trying to collect his things for his 11 o'clock flight. It was about 7:30 now. He had barely been home 5 hours.  
  
Ryou sighed, calmly gathering his things to go to school. He was used to this. After all, it had been the same routine every week or so when he came home. Rush rush rush, then 'bye Ryou!' and he set off again.  
  
So he defiantly wasn't expecting his father to skip his morning coffee to hand him an Egyptian looking ring.  
  
"Here Ryou, this is for you. For some reason, my boss wanted me to keep it hidden somewhere, but I really don't have the time for that right now! He scheduled three meetings for me in Europe within two days! Can you imagine? And in different countries no less! That man needs robots to get his work done, not human beings!"  
  
Ryou smiled slightly, "Thank you... do you know where it came from or-"  
  
His father let out a startled cry after looking at his wristwatch and cut him off abruptly.  
  
"Sorry Ryou, can't talk! I need to leave now! I put more money in the bank account if you need anything. You know how it goes. See you next week!"  
  
Before Ryou could blink, the door slammed shut and his father was gone.  
  
"Of course I know the routine." Ryou murmured sadly to the empty room. "This is the way it's been since mom died, remember?"  
  
He observed the golden ring in his hands with a sigh. Material things. This was all his father was capable of giving him now. He couldn't give his heart anymore. Not since his mother's death. Ryou supposed that the reason his father was always in such a rush to leave was because he resembled her... the same snow-white hair and sad eyes. Too many bittersweet memories, he guessed.  
  
Regardless, Ryou slipped the ring over his neck. At least his father had tried. Although somewhat misplaced, it was a good intention. And a nice gift.  
  
He cleaned the dishes his father left behind in his haste and left the perpetually silent house.  
  
He fingered the ring. It must have been pure gold! He hid it under his shirt to avoid trouble and went off to school, somewhat more light-hearted.  
  
* * * *  
  
Yami sighed. More tests were being run on him today. Something about making sure the resistors in his head didn't hinder the formation of new memories.  
  
The tests were pointless. His memory was fine. After all, he remembered yesterday in vivid detail...  
  
He had to stop himself from smiling. Yugi would be returning tonight.  
  
After debating with himself all night long, he resolved to reveal himself to the young boy. After all, what harm would it do? No one would ever need to know. And he yearned for some kind of human affection.  
  
"You're not keeping your mind blank no. 852501! How do you expect me to get any readings with so many electrical pulses going on up there?" A young scientist with blond hair barked at him.  
  
Yami's lifeless eyes glared at him and flared with sudden anger, causing him to take a step backwards, but the glare disappeared as suddenly as it had appeared, and the scientist thought for a minute that he had imagined it.  
  
Yami said nothing and allowed him to continue with his tests. After all, he was only doing his job. There was no point in getting angry.  
  
But he'd been doing that a lot today.  
  
After Yugi's kind and shy voice, all other voices sounded obnoxious and arrogant.  
  
The blond scientist sighed and connected another wire to his temple. "No. 3223... you know, the one with the white hair? Well, he also seems a little unlike himself today. Did something happen to either of you yesterday that I'm not aware of?"  
  
Yami desperately fought the urge to blush. "No."  
  
The scientist looked somewhat dejected. "Oh. Ok. Also, Kaiba-sama hasn't updated my status... I should be able to access the restricted level of the database, but I cant. I mean, he gave me his 'perfect creation' to monitor, that's got to count for something, right?"  
  
Yami muffled a frustrated groan. What was it about himself that made others feel the need to tell him their problems? "He must have forgotten."  
  
The blond brightened immediately. "You're right, I mean, he's swamped with work because of the whole 'Lacuna Project'! I really shouldn't worry about-- ----"  
  
A vibration shook the building, cutting him off.  
  
The screens in the room flickered and there was a blackout for five seconds before the emergency generators started running.  
  
"What the hell..." The scientist cried out as he ran out of the room. The emergency sirens were now blaring, and the room flashed red at regular intervals. Outside Yami absently noticed that it was general chaos.  
  
"Well, isn't this interesting." He smirked.  
  
Yami guessed that the shockwave was due to an explosion coming from sector six, the one where number 3223 was kept.  
  
That damned tomb raider probably meant to kill the lot of them.  
  
Yami calmly removed the wire from his skull and walked into the hall, where scientists were frantically trying to salvage their life's work. The intercom then blared to life.  
  
"THERE HAS BEEN A SECURITY BREACH IN SECTOR SIX. NUMBER 3223 IS THE PRIME SUSPECT. HE HAS BEEN LOCATED DUE NORTH OF SECTOR 5."  
  
Frightened cries were heard, and the scientists either rushed back to their offices to get their work or didn't even bother and just ran in the opposite direction of sector 5. The intercom message was supposed to encourage them to capture the tomb raider, but they were all too afraid of him. Yami had to admit that this was all very entertaining.  
  
But what was the tomb-raider thinking? To escape? Why? Kaiba might be a pain in the ass, but they were well taken care of here.  
  
The tomb raider couldn't possibly think he could survive outside of H.E.L.L.? Especially not with HIS appearance!  
  
He was a 'failed creation'... wires and metal was apparent at several places sticking out of his skin... it would have been easy to hide, but there was a huge patch of the underlying machinery visible on his left cheek... and his right arm was completely artificial.  
  
Yami noticed the blond scientist standing dumbstruck right in front of him. 'What is he doing? Why is he here?'  
  
He looked further ahead, and there was the devil himself! The tomb raider, or rather, number 3223 was standing right there, but with a hostage.  
  
"Well Malik! Look what I found! A little mouse in the snake's den!" The tomb raider sneered. "Ah! And here's number 852501! I thought he was you for a moment and was about to kill him! Aren't the similarities sickening?"  
  
Yami's eyes widened. There, in the tomb raider's good left hand, was Yugi. He was unconscious.  
  
"YUGI!" Yami cried and shoved past the blond scientist, apparently named 'Malik' according to the tomb raider.  
  
"Oh? You two know each other? Isn't H.E.L.L. a small place!" he laughed.  
  
Malik frowned. "What are you planning to do to the civilian number 3223?"  
  
The tomb raider and leaned down as if to whisper in the motionless Yugi's ear. "I'd tell him all this place's deep dark secrets..."  
  
He licked Yugi's cheek. "Wouldn't that simply infuriate Kaiba? Oh... but then no one would believe this little mouse, would they Malik? And Kaiba would have him killed. Wouldn't that be a shame?"  
  
He laughed, and Yami clenched his teeth. That was it. This was the limit of his patience.  
  
Yami lunged forward and delivered a powerful blow to thee tomb raider's face, sending him reeling backwards. During his moment of surprise, Yami swept his feet from under him, grabbed Yugi and ran for the exit.  
  
Malik stood there, surprised, as number 3223 sat up and rubbed his sore right cheek. "I struck a chord. I didn't think the Pharaoh would actually respond to my provocations. He never did before."  
  
"At least he didn't hit your left cheek. If he had crushed a wire it would have taken me hours to fix it!" Malik scolded.  
  
"Whatever." The tomb raider growled. "It doesn't matter. With him and the civilian out of our way, we can get down to business."  
  
Malik smiled. "Of course."  
  
He handed the tomb raider a scrap of paper. "This is the address of the man that Kaiba gave the ring to."  
  
The tomb raider grabbed it away from him eagerly.  
  
Malik frowned. "And?"  
  
Number 3223 glared at him. " 'And' what?"  
  
Malik groaned in frustration. "And, do you have the cell samples or not?"  
  
Number 3223 threw him a glass container.  
  
"Did anyone see you?" Malik asked worriedly.  
  
Number 3223 laughed sardonically. "Who ever did was blown away in the explosion."  
  
Malik sighed as he eyed the small glass container. There was maybe a hair or two in there.  
  
"You're horrible, you know that? Without the corpse, this is my only cell sample! What happens if I mess up the cloning process, eh? What will I do then?!"  
  
The tomb raider let out another laugh. "Malik, Malik, Malik." He chided. "I know you too well..."  
  
He dragged out something that was hidden in the shadows and threw it at Malik, who caught it easily. It was a bag. Malik opened it and pulled out a head. Of another ancient corpse.  
  
Malik looked at the head and sighed again. "You have no respect for the dead, do you?!"  
  
The tomb raider glared at him. "Just too minutes ago you were bitching about not having enough tissue samples. I bring you a head and this the thanks I get?"  
  
Malik hugged the head to his chest lovingly and laughed. "Yes I guess it is silly for me to get so upset... but now you realise that now you'll have to destroy the rest of the laboratory so that his body doesn't get lonely?"  
  
Number 3223 got up and dusted himself. "Already taken care of. You have 4 minutes to get out of here."  
  
Malik's eyes widened. "You're joking? We need to leave now then Ishtar!"  
  
Number 3223 rolled his eyes. "You already named it?"  
  
Malik glared at him as he delicately placed the head in the plain black bag and closed it. "You're just jealous."  
  
The tomb raider unexpectedly lunged forward and punched him in the stomach, knocking the air out of his lungs. For good measure, once Malik was down, he kicked him in the ribs. With that, he turned and ran away, laughing.  
  
Malik groaned. He tried to pick himself up, but couldn't find the strength. He felt a hand on his shoulder and nearly jumped out of his skin.  
  
"Are you alright?"  
  
It was Kaiba.  
  
Malik looked up to meet the icy eyes. Tears started to form in his eyes.  
  
"It was horrible! I tried to stop him, but he's insane!"  
  
"Is the transmitter still in his head?" Kaiba asked, helping Malik up.  
  
"Yes, but with all the equipment damaged..."  
  
"Fix it. I want number 3223 back here by tomorrow."  
  
"Yes Kaiba-sama! I'll start working on it right away!" as soon as Malik had said those words, there was another explosion.  
  
They were flung back by the force of the blow, slamming into a wall. Rubble fell down in great chunks as a fire raged.  
  
"There might be a slight delay Kaiba-sama..."  
  
* * * *  
  
Ryou tiredly ran a hand through his hair. He was heading home after a long day at school, and after having walked with Yugi to the town morgue. Which was rather odd to say the least. After they had reached it, Yugi had insisted for him to head home, that there was a friend waiting for him there.  
  
Why on earth would anyone arrange a meeting at a morgue?  
  
He sighed. 'And its another night of having the house all to myself. I wish there at least was someone else to share it with, its so big...it wouldn't have to be a human being... a cat, dog, anything would be better than being alone.'  
  
Ryou placed the key in the lock and opened the door. He stepped into the house and was about to close the door when a hand sprung out and stopped him by pushing the door open.  
  
Ryou raised his eyes and gasped. There in front of him was a boy that could have been mistaken for his twin... they were almost exactly alike!  
  
But protruding metal wiring disfigured the boy's left cheek. And his eyes were cold.  
  
"Where is my ring?"  
  
  
  
* * *  
  
So? What do you think? Muahahahaha! It's all going according to my master plan!  
  
(Whips out 'master plan' and looks at it.) Well, it seems that in the next chapter Yami will have the privilege of meeting Anzu, Honda and Jou.  
  
BTW, please excuse the bad writing or grammar or missing words or grammar or whatever, its because I'm SUPER tired... I've been staying up till 1 AM almost every day this week...  
  
Ah! And I'm super depressed! If you look at my info page, you'll see that I've got a crush on this 'Heero-look-alike'... I'm certain I saw him at the Harry Potter movie last night with his girlfriend... He has a girlfriend! ;____; (But that's understandable, he's really hot... and she was very pretty too.) Anyways, my friends (including one that knows him) insist it wasn't him, but I don't know...  
  
You know, a bunch of reviews would cheer me up! ^__^  
  
REVIEW! 


	4. Intervigilum

Urgh. My grandmother (who had been babysitting my sister and I for the week) is gone, and my parents are back. (Frustrated groan). Now I'm always scared they're going to run in on me! I swear, if my dad knew... *.* The stress is taking away all my inspiration, and I'm writing crap. I'll try to get as much done when they're gone, and I'll try to keep up regular updates, but that might be harder now.  
  
Oh, and you guys remember about the Heero-guy? Well, now my friends are saying that they're either going to introduce him to me or by some minor mishap I might end up getting pushed into him... (I'm so afraid now! I'll need to run away whenever I see him.) I mean, I've gone beyond the point of no return... I've been a dumbass whenever I see him for the past 5 months! Really, it's only funny if he's a complete stranger. (LOL) I'm in over my head... I ought to write a fic with this as a plot. That's how funny I find it. ^.^  
  
Anyways, the chapters keep getting longer, don't they? Well, consider this a gift for making you all wait! ^.^  
  
BTW, Intervigilum means sleep. I got that from Final Fantasy VIII. Pretty cool, ne? I love Latin! I really need to learn it one day.  
  
^.^; My rants keep getting longer too don't they?  
  
  
  
Chapter 4 - Intervigilum  
  
  
  
  
  
Yami had looked at Yugi's identification cards and had found an address. After a few hours of wandering around, he finally found Yugi's home.  
  
He had also broken into the address indicated on the ID. And to his surprise and luck, there was no one home. The house was silent, and nothing hindered him from entering the house and bringing Yugi upstairs.  
  
Yami carefully placed Yugi on his bed. Or at least, Yami assumed that this was his bed and his room, since the room was filled with toys, and all sorts of odd contraptions he had never seen before.  
  
Yami was about to leave the room when suddenly he saw a flash of burning white light.  
  
He gasped and felt like he was burning, like there was a hot bright spark eating him whole. The feeling invaded and overwhelmed him, almost bringing him to his knees.  
  
His neck. There was something in his neck, and it was burning him from the inside out. He muffled a cry and clawed at his neck in some feral attempt to get rid of the pain.  
  
Yugi was awake, but Yami didn't care. The pain was unbearable! What was this? Was it a wire that short-circuited?  
  
Yugi stared at Yami in surprise. There was what looked like an angry red light flashing under his skin where his collarbone was.  
  
"Y-your neck!" Yugi cried out, pointing at the small red light.  
  
Yami whirled around and looked in the mirror, his eyes widening in horror as he saw the flashing light underneath his skin.  
  
"It's a tracking device!" He cried out, crumbling to the ground. He continued to claw at it in vain. "Please! Get it out!"  
  
Yugi shot out of his bed and fell to the floor next to Yami. "What do I do?"  
  
Yami groaned in pain. "S-something sharp! Get me something sharp! A knife!"  
  
Without a second thought, Yugi ran out of the room and downstairs to the kitchen. He grabbed a knife from a drawer, and hurried back upstairs, handing it to Yami.  
  
Yami took the knife and quickly cut his collarbone where the tracking device was located.  
  
Yugi looked at him in horror as he threw away the knife and ripped out the transmitter, the small device still flashing red.  
  
But there was no blood.  
  
"Where's your washroom?" Yami cried out, and Yugi stumbled to his feet, rushing to show him the way.  
  
Yami threw the transmitter in the toilet and flushed it. The little red light still flashed as the water descended.  
  
He allowed himself a small smirk. "Lets see you follow me to the sewage plant Kaiba."  
  
Yugi wasn't paying attention to what he was saying though. He was starring at Yami's bloodless neck. There were wires under the skin, but the skin was slowly blocking his view of the intricate machinery... it was mending itself.  
  
Yami looked at Yugi's dumbstruck expression and sighed.  
  
"I suppose I owe you an explanation."  
  
Yugi looked up at him with confusion evident in his eyes. "What was that?"  
  
Yami looked down and led the small boy back to his room. Yugi sat down on the bed and Yami wandered to and fro, trying to formulate what to say.  
  
"That was a transmitter... I wasn't even aware that Kaiba had planted one in me. I don't know why it reacted like that. Maybe it was faulty or maybe it was burning itself out trying to send the signal." Yami breathed deeply. "I'm Yami, the one you were supposed to meet."  
  
Yugi smiled brightly and nodded. "I had a feeling that I knew you."  
  
Yami looked pained, and the fear that Yugi would reject him gripped at his heart.  
  
"I'm not human."  
  
Yugi's smile reassured the nervous pharaoh. "I know."  
  
"Doesn't that bother you?"  
  
"I don't mind. We're friends, aren't we?"  
  
Yami looked at him oddly but continued his explanation. "The tomb raider caused that explosion, and I managed to get us out of H.E.L.L."  
  
Yugi nodded. "I was waiting to go meet you, but then there was an explosion. I went to go see... and then, all I can remember is that someone grabbed me and wouldn't let me breathe."  
  
Yami walked over to Yugi and gently stroked his hair. "Did he hit you? Or hurt you in any way?"  
  
Yugi blushed and the tenderness the unhuman boy was displaying, and shook his head.  
  
"No, I don't think so. I guess we don't have to worry about a concussion then," he said with a small laugh.  
  
Yami nodded and sat down next to Yugi. Yugi leaned over and gave the taller boy a reassuring hug, trying to soothe his obvious doubts.  
  
"I'm sorry. I wish there was more I could tell you... I know very little." Yami said, his cold expression returning at the mere memory of H.E.L.L.  
  
"How could anyone create people though?" Yugi asked shyly. "We don't have that kind of technology yet, right? Just a few years ago they were only able to clone sheep."  
  
"The government doesn't know about H.E.L.L., and H.E.L.L. is ahead of whatever the general public knows about the present technology by at least 20 years. They have managed to get this far mostly thanks to the funding of Kaiba Corp. and also for the simple reason that they don't allow moral issues to hinder their advancement. I'm the 852501st experiment, so I'm assuming that they have been doing this for quite some time now."  
  
"How can they do that though? You're obviously not just a clone." Yugi murmured.  
  
"No... I don't know. For some reason the 'clones' need to be mechanized in order to function properly. Maybe its because they have been playing with mummified corpses. That's what I'm cloned from, the mummy of an Egyptian pharaoh, and the tomb raider...the one who grabbed you, he was also created from an ancient Egyptian corpse, but that of a tomb raider as his name would suggest."  
  
"Why use people that have been dead for so long?" Yugi asked.  
  
Yami shrugged helplessly. "I truly don't know."  
  
Yami then looked at Yugi and hugged him. It was more to reassure himself that the small boy was still there then to provide comfort.  
  
"Had I known that the tomb raider would cause all that trouble tonight, I would have never asked you to come back."  
  
Yugi smiled and leaned into the embrace. "I would have come back. I wanted to see you."  
  
Yami was overwhelmed by a foreign emotion. He looked in the lavender eyes and nearly drowned at the greatness of the trust he found there.  
  
Yugi trusted him.  
  
"I wanted to see you too." He admitted.  
  
Yugi yawned. He crawled into his bed, dragging Yami with him. He placed the covers over both of them and insisted that Yami lie down.  
  
"We'll talk more some other time, alright? I have school tomorrow, so I need to go to sleep... Will you be there when I wake up?"  
  
Yami looked at Yugi's drooping eyelids and smiled. "Yes. I'll stay as long as you want me to."  
  
'And I'll protect you no matter what.' was the unspoken addition to his statement.  
  
Yugi smiled and nodded, soon falling asleep.  
  
Yami looked around the room. He should be feeling lost. He should be feeling out of place... a machine among children's playthings.  
  
But he didn't. He felt more at peace then he ever did.  
  
Yugi trusted him. And Yugi didn't seem to care what he was.  
  
Yugi didn't care that he was a mechanical copy of a long dead pharaoh.  
  
Yami laid his head on the soft pillow and willed himself to sleep.  
  
'I want to stay by your side. Allow me to be your shadow.'  
  
* * * *  
  
(Thought I forgot about them? Nuh un! ^.^)  
  
  
  
"Ring?" Ryou asked, taking a step back.  
  
"Yes fool, my RING!" The tomb raider growled. "WHERE IS IT?!"  
  
Ryou stumbled backwards. He reached to his chest, where the ring felt painfully heavy.  
  
The telltale gesture didn't go unnoticed by the tomb raider.  
  
He reached forward with his mechanical right arm and grabbed Ryou's neck. "So the weak fool has my ring, does he?"  
  
Ryou tensed as the surprisingly soft hand reached under his shirt and pulled out the ring his father had given him.  
  
A spark lit up in the android's dead eyes as he saw the golden ring he had longed to have for so long.  
  
"Finally... my ring!" The tomb raider laughed sadistically and pulled the ring off Ryou's neck roughly. He then flung the boy back easily, as if he had been a rag doll.  
  
Ryou crawled up against the wall and whimpered at the tomb raider's incredible strength.  
  
"Finally... after so long. I have it. I've won this little game Kaiba has been playing!" The tomb raider laughed. "He couldn't hide what is rightfully mine forever!"  
  
He didn't care that the boy was watching him in horror-struck fascination as he unhooked one of the connections in his artificial arm and plugged it into the center of the golden ring. He could watch if he wanted. He would die after anyways.  
  
An electrical pulse ran though the ring and spread through his body. At first, it felt warm, but then, unlike any normal connection, it became searing hot.  
  
His eyes flashed golden and the wires protruding from his left cheek turned blue as current flowed through them.  
  
The ring was what he had always wanted, and what Kaiba hid from him maliciously.  
  
Or, at least that's the way he thought it was.  
  
Wasn't that it? Wasn't Kaiba hiding this ring to keep its secrets away from him?  
  
The ring glowed eerily and swallowed him in its blinding light.  
  
And he remembered.  
  
He remembered everything. Even his own death.  
  
* * * *  
  
Yami had been awake for a while now.  
  
After all, he would always get up with the sun. It was one of those habits that he almost believed was programmed into him.  
  
Yugi's alarm clock started to ring and Yugi groggily hit the snooze button. He turned over to find himself staring into Yami's blood red eyes.  
  
"Did I wake you?" Yugi asked apologetically.  
  
"No." Yami said simply.  
  
Yugi got out of bed and opened his closet.  
  
"I'm going to go take a shower... you can look though my closet for a change of clothes, but I don't know if I have anything that fits you."  
  
Yami smiled gratefully and Yugi left the room with some clothes.  
  
He sifted through the closet a few times until he found a uniform that fit him. He then changed and sat on the bed, waiting for Yugi to return.  
  
Yugi returned dressed in his school uniform, the same one that Yami had always seen him wearing. His hair was still damp.  
  
"Are you hungry?" Yugi smiled when Yami nodded. "Alright. I need to eat breakfast quickly because I need to head to school, but you can help yourself to whatever you want."  
  
"I'm coming with you." was the simple reply.  
  
Yugi looked at him quizzically. "You can't come to class with me though."  
  
"I know. I'll be waiting for you."  
  
Yugi smiled at the protectiveness in Yami's voice. They had barely known each other for a few hours, but already it seemed like they had always been together.  
  
After having breakfast, they headed towards school at a leisurely pace. Each took pleasure in the other's presence and they would occasionally exchange a few words. It was mostly Yami asking Yugi questions about the things he had never seen before, and Yugi answering him with a smile.  
  
Yami then left Yugi at the gate, promising to be there when school ended.  
  
  
  
Anzu greeted Yugi with a smile when he entered the classroom.  
  
"Good morning Yugi!"  
  
"Good morning Anzu." Yugi said shyly. After all, he had harboured a crush for her for a while now.  
  
"I saw you from the window. Who was that with you?"  
  
Yugi felt his heart tighten at the hopefulness in Anzu's question. 'Does she like him?' Yugi thought. 'It shouldn't matter, Yami doesn't even know her... and she doesn't know him.'  
  
"It was um- ... my cousin, Yami." Yugi answered quietly.  
  
"Your cousin? No wonder you two look so alike!" Anzu laughed, her face slightly flushed.  
  
Yugi smiled back almost sadly. She probably liked him. "Yeah, I guess."  
  
The teacher entered the class and everyone sat down at their seat. Only two people were missing.  
  
One of the aforementioned people came strolling into the classroom leisurely, and sat down in his seat, ignoring the teacher's stare.  
  
"Jounouchi Katsuya. I will not warn you again! If you do not arrive on time, you will not be permitted to attend my class!"  
  
Jounouchi waved him off. The old man had been saying the same thing every morning since the year began and still hadn't managed to go through with the threat.  
  
He shared a chuckle with Honda at the teacher's miffed expression behind his back.  
  
Yugi knitted his brows together. There was only one person missing now.  
  
Bakura Ryou.  
  
  
  
* * * *  
  
Ok, I lied. They don't exactly talk to each other. Hey! Writing all this was hard, ok? I'm sorry! (cries)  
  
So, what do you guys think? I really need your opinion right now though... how should I portray Jou? Urgh. I don't know... I think I'll go along with the way he is in the manga... cause there's no way I'm doing that damn accent! ^.^ No, I'm just being mean. I like the accent, its funny.  
  
No, I haven't seen Malik yet... I haven't watched the show in a while actually... I really should try though. I'm glad they kept his name close enough to his original. But that whole 'Terrance' thing was horrible! I disapprove of dubs that change the names to make it more 'accessible' to American television. I'll cry if they get rid of 'Shuffle' too. ;___________; I'm serious. The reason I fell in love with Yu Gi Oh is because of 'Shuffle'!  
  
I'm listening to 'Still Waiting' by Sum 41... I love that song! You know, angry music is good for the creative soul. ^.^ Reviews are too.  
  
REVIEW! 


	5. Modus Operandi

Well, here's the next chapter!  
  
I saw Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat this week... it was really good. But you see, I kept picturing Yugi as Joseph, and Yami as the pharaoh, so when the pharaoh does an Elvis gig, I nearly fell out of my chair laughing. ^.^  
  
You know, I chuckle every time I write 'Ishtar'. Ishtar is the name of the Babylonian goddess of love and war. Her Mesopotamian name is Ianna. She is known for mistreating her lovers and gets really P.O.ed when she doesn't get what she wants. For all those who would like to know more, read the 'Epic of Gilgamesh.'  
  
Mythology is my strong point... I'd like to major in it some day. And I just love all the Egyptian references in Yu Gi Oh!  
  
Anyways...thank you for all the reviews! More then 40 for 4 chapters... I can't believe it! ;______; I'm so happy!  
  
Lol! Silver Dragon, I love how you used your reviews to promote your story! I'll take a look at it as soon as I can!  
  
Thanks for all the advice concerning Jou guys! I hope he isn't a disappointment...  
  
(Bat comes out dressed up in a cute little lawyer get up.)  
  
Bat: Elves don't own YuGiOh. They only own trees, and lots of sharp pointy objects. Don't sue, or else you'll regret it.  
  
  
  
Chapter 5- Modus Operandi  
  
  
  
  
  
Malik muttered as he patched up various systems.  
  
Ok, so he was happy that the tomb raider blew this place up.  
  
He just hated fixing everything.  
  
Since he was the only one that "attempted to halt number 3223's escape" as Kaiba put it, he was promoted. Malik grumbled again. And he was put in charge of the cleanup crew. Which meant longer hours, and more stress, since all the other scientists had to go to therapy for their ordeal, and he was stuck with a bunch of newbies. Why didn't HE get therapy? He was the one that needed it, not those snivelling cowards!  
  
Kaiba was nice enough to give him a 100% salary increase though...  
  
Malik pushed the thought from his mind. 'Cant be thinking happy thoughts now. I hate this place! I could be doing work on Ishtar right now.'  
  
Malik let out a yelp as one of the wires sparked and nearly burned his hand.  
  
"HEY! Didn't I say to turn the electricity off?!" Malik yelled.  
  
One of the newbies shrugged. "How can you know what wires work then?"  
  
Malik gave the guy a deathglare (Heero Yuy) that he would have nightmares of for the rest of his life as another nerdier one went to shut the electricity for that panel.  
  
Kaiba sneered at Malik's frustration. "Having fun working with fools?"  
  
Malik fought murderous impulses.  
  
'This is my boss, must not kill. This is my boss, must not kill.' He chanted mentally.  
  
"When will the tracking devices be repaired?" Kaiba continued in the same mocking tone.  
  
Malik groaned. Great. Now he had to report bad news too. 'That 100% salary wasn't worth it.' He decided.  
  
"I already fixed them last night. The one for the 'perfect creation', number 852501, was faulty, and by the time I managed to fix the problem, it was at a sewage plant. The probability of the pharaoh having gotten rid of it is 100%. The signal was coming from under water."  
  
Kaiba raised an eyebrow at this, his mocking expression gone. "And number 3223?"  
  
"The codes for his transmitter were erased. He probably did that before breaking out."  
  
Malik wasn't going to say that he had a personal copy of the Tomb Raider's codes, which he had stolen along with copies of the whole main computer, to be able to create Ishtar.  
  
"I want them back here as soon as possible." Kaiba growled, his eyes an icy blue. "The Lacuna project is nearing termination, and I wont let them hinder my progress by revealing our secrets."  
  
"Any specific instructions for this assignment, Kaiba-sama?" Malik asked, his usual calm composure returning.  
  
"Yes." Kaiba said, his face cold and taunt. "Find them, and terminate them. I have no further need for them."  
  
Malik's eyes widened. "Kaiba-sama, you can't be serious! Take a look around you! H.E.L.L. is in pieces! We don't know how much information we lost! The whole Lacuna project could go down the drain if we get rid of the Egyptian cyborgs! I mean, what happens if the data on the 'reconstructing of nuclear DNA' is destroyed? We might need the prototypes!"  
  
Kaiba looked at him calmly and pulled out several golden disks from his pocket.  
  
"You're not the only one with backup copies."  
  
* * * *  
  
Ryou rubbed at his neck again. There were deep black bruises forming where the cyborg has grabbed him. He had tried to fall asleep and wake up to find that yesterday was all a nightmare, but no such luck was accorded to him. The cyborg was still there. And those bruises hurt...  
  
But that wasn't important right now.  
  
He had been staring at the unconscious robot most of the morning, and halfway into the afternoon, and had no idea what to do.  
  
How do you help someone who isn't really alive? Should he help him? After all, the cyborg seemed pretty violent. What if it woke up?  
  
Ryou shook his head, trying to shake away his own indecision.  
  
It didn't matter what this cyborg was like. It was alive, and it didn't deserve to lay on the cold hard floor forever, Ryou decided.  
  
Almost fearing that the unhuman boy's eyes would open at any minute, Ryou lifted him to a seated position to find a good grip to pick him up.  
  
He was startled by how soft the boy's hair was. The skin felt warm too.  
  
"This isn't just a robot." Ryou murmured. "It's more like an elaborate doll."  
  
Ryou hauled the boy onto his back and carried him to the couch, ignoring his own exhaustion. Because of all the metal he could see, and for the strength the boy had displayed before, he was expecting the cyborg to be much heavier.  
  
He dropped him on the couch and took a closer look.  
  
The boy really did look like an intricate doll. In his sleep, the fierce expression was gone, and he looked more like Ryou. The wires weren't glowing anymore, and none of them looked burned. There was metal protruding through the skin at various places, the most noticeable being his face... and the ring was still attached to the boy's right metallic arm. Ryou didn't know what to do...  
  
Should he unhook the ring? Would it hurt him?  
  
Then what? Once he unhooked the wire, where should he plug it back? What if he plugged it at the wrong place?  
  
What happens if the boy wakes up?  
  
* * * *  
  
Yami had been waiting for Yugi to finish school for a while now.  
  
The former Pharaoh tapped his foot impatiently. What could be taking so long?  
  
To pass the day, Yami had looked around the town. Compared to H.E.L.L., everything seemed bigger, and louder. And there were so many horrible smells...  
  
But he didn't mind. He was free, and everything seemed so alive.  
  
But he hated waiting.  
  
The final bell rang and kids walked out of the school soon after.  
  
Some kids looked at him oddly, wondering why he was wearing the same school uniform as them. He simply ignored them.  
  
Yugi and his friends came out soon after. Two boys and a girl were accompanying him. Yami could help but feel a little jealous, but he pushed it away.  
  
'Of course he has other friends then me.' Yami thought sadly. 'How could someone so kind not have many friends?'  
  
The laughing friends were surprised when Yugi ran over to a boy that looked strikingly like him... the boy's demeanour was noticeably colder though.  
  
Yami smiled slightly when Yugi hugged him. It was a smile reserved only for Yugi.  
  
"Yami! I didn't think you would wait for me to finish!" Yugi smiled.  
  
Yami started to walk towards home with them. "I looked around town a bit."  
  
Jounouchi gave Yami a friendly pat on the back. "Is it your first time in Domino? I can show you around if you want!"  
  
Honda laughed. "You still get lost in this dinky place Jou! What a great tour-guide you'd make!"  
  
Jou growled and chased after Honda, who ran around the group in a circle.  
  
"So... I heard that you're Yugi's cousin. Where are you from Yami?" Anzu asked, a slight blush tinting her cheeks.  
  
All the people being so friendly to him almost made him dizzy.  
  
"I'm from out of town." Yami lied easily.  
  
Jou had finally caught up with Honda and now had him in a friendly headlock.  
  
"Are you planning to stay here for a while?" Jou asked as Honda was suffocating.  
  
"Yes, I enrolled him in our school." Yugi answered, seeing that all the questions were beginning to annoy Yami.  
  
"Oh! That's great!" Anzu smiled. "When are you starting?"  
  
"I don't know." Yami stated in a tone that indicated that he wasn't answering any more questions.  
  
Jou released Honda from the chokehold and laughed as he gasped for air. Honda glared at Jou, but decided that he wasn't going to continue the childish game. After all, he was beginning to feel slightly embarrassed. This guy's cold personality gave Honda the impression that he wasn't the very open friendly type, unlike his small cousin.  
  
Anzu kept trying to start up a conversation with Yami, but he kept responding in short yes or no answers.  
  
Jou wanted to laugh at her efforts. She was trying to flirt with him, but this guy didn't give a damn. Which was good, otherwise Yugi would be heart broken. It was obvious to everyone but Anzu that he liked her.  
  
Jou then noticed that Yami was holding Yugi's hand with a brotherly protectfullness. He smiled. It was nice to see someone care about Yugi so much... but it also reminded him of his own sister, Shizuka. Which lead him back to his own dilemma. At this he frowned. There had to be some other way that he hadn't thought of... there had to be.  
  
Yugi noticed Jou's grim expression. "What's wrong Jounouchi?"  
  
Jou shook his head and covered his worries with a smile. "Nothing Yugi. I... uh, was... just wondering where Ryou was."  
  
Honda nodded. "That's right, he wasn't at school today!"  
  
"Its not normal for him to miss school." Anzu added.  
  
Yami looked silently at Yugi's worried expression.  
  
"I'm going to go check up on him. I'll see you guys tomorrow, ok?" Yugi said, the worried expression not leaving.  
  
"You want us to come with you?" Jou offered.  
  
Yugi shook his head. "No, its out of your way... besides, Yami will be with me, so you don't need to worry."  
  
Jou frowned. "Are you sure? I wouldn't want any thugs hurting you while I'm away."  
  
Honda nodded and Anzu frowned worriedly. "It's true Yugi. Whenever you go by yourself we always find new bruises on you the next day."  
  
"He's not by himself." Yami said coldly. "I'm with him, and I'll make sure no harm comes to him."  
  
The gang looked uneasy, but Yami's words rang with such finality that they couldn't bring themselves to argue.  
  
Yugi gave them a smile. "You guys don't need to worry. Yami will take good care of me. See you tomorrow!"  
  
Yugi ran off before they could stop him, bringing Yami along with him. The others resigned to simply wave goodbye and continue walking home.  
  
"Ryou's house is right around here." Yugi noted, still holding Yami's hand for comfort.  
  
"Your friends were worried." Yami started simply.  
  
Yugi looked down. "I know. I hate to worry them, but I'm not a little child. I can do things on my own."  
  
Yami smiled softly. "You don't need to do things by yourself. I'll always be by your side aibou"  
  
Yugi looked up into Yami's ruby eyes and smiled at the tenderness he found there.  
  
"Thank you Yami... I'm glad you're here."  
  
They reached Ryou's house in silence and Yugi knocked on the door.  
  
An exhausted looking Ryou opened the door and looked at them in surprise. He defiantly wasn't expecting this.  
  
"Hi Ryou!" Yugi smiled. "We were worried when you didn't come to school today."  
  
"Hello Yugi... I was sick." Ryou murmured, the lie almost sticking in his throat.  
  
Yami observed him with that same emotionless face that he used around everyone but Yugi.  
  
'This Ryou looks exactly like the Tomb Raider.' Yami thought to himself. 'Just like I look like Yugi. This can't just be a coincidence. Why do the tomb raider and I have look-alikes? Are they our reincarnations?'  
  
"Oh!" Yugi exclaimed, surprised that he had forgotten to introduce Yami. "Ryou, this is my cousin Yami."  
  
"Pleased to meet you." Ryou murmured to Yami and then turned his attention back to Yugi. "Could I phone you for my homework later Yugi? I think I'm going to head back to bed."  
  
"Of course... take care Ryou." Yugi said, the concern for his friend obvious in his voice.  
  
"Goodbye Yugi... nice to meet you Yami." Ryou said politely. Yami nodded and lead Yugi away from Ryou's house, towards home. Ryou watched them walk away as he leaned on the doorframe.  
  
Ryou sighed as he closed the door. He had finally made a decision that he had been putting off for the whole day.  
  
He would plug the wire back in.  
  
And he hoped he wouldn't regret it.  
  
* * * *  
  
I still cant believe it! 42 reviews...  
  
Ok, the story is starting to warm up here. I know I've been taking my sweet time and have been avoiding the purpose of H.E.L.L. and telling you guys what the Lacuna project is... but that's the whole mystery in the story, and I'm having loads of fun dancing my way around it.  
  
Ok, I guess I should hand out some hints:  
  
Yami is the 'perfect creation' because he is the only experiment that turned out looking perfectly human.  
  
Kaiba is the president of Kaiba Corp still, and its thanks to its funding that HELL was created and is surviving Bakura's lovely explosions.  
  
Malik may be a manipulative psychopath for lack of a better description, but he IS still buddies with Bakura. And he also has the codes for his transmitter, so he CAN find him.  
  
The ring allowed Bakura to gain his memories. What memories, you ask? Well, the memories of when he was alive, and how he died in Egypt. No wonder he suffered an overload and fainted. (smirk)  
  
If the millennium items contain memories, what about the millennium puzzle? HA! I'm not telling. ^.^  
  
Jou is still having money troubles... what's a poor bishonen to do?  
  
And finally: Where's Grandpa? Dun dun duuuuuunnn! (you know, that creepy music thing?) I dunno yet. -____-  
  
Bonus: Yup, Malik got BUSTED! Seto knows exactly what he's doing, but doesn't give a damn. After all, a genius has more important things to attend to.  
  
REVIEW! It'll make me SUPER happy, and I'll update faster. I'll skip doing an important project like I did today. I do it all for you, reviews. (----- (finding excuses so that she doesn't have to do work) 


	6. Veritas

Hey guys! Sorry for the long wait... I had an insane week. Doesn't it suck that authors are human? Seriously, being a robot like Bakura and Yami sounds really good right now. @.@ (I've barely had any sleep...) Too many exams + assignments.  
  
(sigh) Yeah... well, next week is the beginning of exams, so it'll be hell. But keep those reviews coming! They really cheer me up when I wonder if I'll ever be able to finish this story! ^.^;  
  
Argh... I was so sad this week! I managed to talk to my Heero-guy, but it was so awkward...  
  
My Macroeconomics teacher is so funny! He's the nicest guy, and he's always eating a fruit and drinking a diet coke when he's teaching us. But what really gets to me is that he invited my whole class for an end of school supper! How nice is that? At his house! His real address! How many teachers would trust their students enough to give them their address, much less invite them over for some tea or something! *.*  
  
Hehehe... I got 100% for computers! Yay! And I passed Calculus with a 68%. Pretty decent for a procrastinator if you ask me. But I still have the final exam to worry about... I didn't do so well in French either. I swear, I don't think that teacher liked me... or maybe its because my last name is French and he was insulted that someone who was French couldn't do better. I don't know! My writing sucks! I can only speak that damned language! (Bat hits her head against the wall in frustration.)  
  
All right. I've been searching for weeks for a fic that I love, BUT I CANT FIND IT!!! ;_____; I know its petty to use my author status to find a story, but hey, I'm desperate. ^.^; The story is about Yugi and Yami, and I think there's about 2 chapters... In the second chapter, Yugi convinces him to try and use the magic of the puzzle to become solid (he was just a spirit before.) He does, and it's happening while he's leaning on the couch. Ring any bells? I'd be eternally grateful to anyone who can help me!  
  
BTW, for all you Sum 41 fans, you're the coolest! I love you guys! Those reviews made my day!  
  
Are there any Jimmy Eat World fans reading too?  
  
Bat: I should really do a disclaimer, shouldn't I? I don't see the point though; cause everyone who's reading this knows that I'm not making any cash off of it! Otherwise the writers of fanfiction.net would be rich and would all retire to their own private island... with a bunch of imported Japanese hotties... and elves! And hobits, and rangers too... and there would be wizards flying around on broomsticks playing quidditch----  
  
Heero: Ok, that's enough. (points a gun to her head.) Get on with the story.  
  
Bat: ... yes sir. ^.^;  
  
  
  
Chapter 6 - Veritas  
  
  
  
The tomb raider's eyes snapped open and Ryou stepped away, afraid that the unhuman boy might lash out at him in his confusion.  
  
"Where am I?" the cyborg groaned, shifting to a sitting position.  
  
Ryou was about to answer when tears began to fall down the once cold and frightening face. There was no sound, as if the cyborg didn't realise he was crying. "The tomb... I remember..."  
  
"Remember what?" Ryou asked timidly.  
  
The silver haired cyborg turned his head to look at him and let out a guttal growl.  
  
"You!" The tomb raider got up and walked over to him threateningly. He whipped the tears away in a swift movement and was once again the boy that had so frightened Ryou.  
  
"How dare you!"  
  
A bewildered Ryou could only step backwards again. "What?"  
  
"How dare you take on my image!" The tomb raider cried out and grabbed Ryou's hair, pulling him closer to examine him.  
  
"I'm sorry!" Ryou cried out as the cyborg tightened his grip on his hair. "It's not my fault!"  
  
The tomb raider laughed sardonically and brought Ryou's face closer to his, his eyes softening. Ryou relaxed slightly.  
  
"No... Of course not. The gods have a twisted sense of humour... to let this weak soul inhabit my eternal body. Disgusting!" The tomb raider snarled and forcefully brought Ryou's face up to meet his eyes.  
  
"Such a weak pampered boy... like one of noble blood. How dare they give me all the pain and you all the happiness!"  
  
Ryou tried desperately to check his tears. He tried to shake his head, tried to say 'No, you're wrong. You don't understand', but he couldn't. His body wouldn't respond, it was frozen by a nameless fear.  
  
The tomb raider ran his hand along Ryou's cheek, revelling in its softness.  
  
"Such a weak, weak soul that inherited my Ba... and me? They wouldn't let me sleep. Where is the death that I so longed for before?" He pushed Ryou away and slumped to the ground, trembling in fury.  
  
"Damn the gods! Damn them for this joke! How dare they bring my soul back from whatever hell it was in and inhabit this poor excuse for a body... a body of flesh and wires."  
  
Ryou drew out some courage and sat down next to the cyborg on the carpet. The cyborg glared at him with a fierce scowl but didn't seem as if he would be violent. Ryou took some courage from that. If the cyborg was going to kill him, he could have done it earlier.  
  
"Please... could you tell me what is going on?" Ryou murmured quietly.  
  
The tomb raider stared at him with a dumbfounded expression for a moment then laughed.  
  
"So, the little doll would like to know what nightmare he has stepped into does he?" The tomb raider laughed and graded the ring that had fallen to the floor, and then thrust it into Ryou's face. Ryou clenched his mouth shut and wasn't going to say that it was the cyborg that looks like a doll.  
  
"Well little doll, your nightmare, as well as mine, is because of this!"  
  
The tomb raider laughed mirthlessly and handed the ring to Ryou. "Keep it. I was a fool for wanting it in the first place. I can't believe that Kaiba had my best interest at heart... that bastard."  
  
Ryou's eyes widened. "Kaiba? But that's the name of my father's employer. My father works for Kaiba corp.!"  
  
The tomb raider clenched his good left hand, his nails biting into his skin painfully. "That bastard pretty much owns the whole city. Thinks he's a damn god!"  
  
Ryou's eyebrows furrowed, hoping that the cyborg wouldn't decide to take his anger out on anything. But the tomb raider's eyes suddenly flashed and his face scrunched up in distaste.  
  
"I just realized... to create me and the pharaoh, he must have taken our corpses from their tomb..." He then laughed. "Here is the great former tomb raider, and he's worrying about desecration!"  
  
Ryou looked at him confusedly. "You were a tomb raider?"  
  
"Yes, but I never moved the bodies from the graves I robbed. Why would anyone want a corpse? But apparently, Kaiba thinks differently from me."  
  
"If you were a tomb raider, how come you were with a pharaoh?" Ryou asked.  
  
The cyborg's eyes lit up, happy that the boy was paying close attention. 'At least he makes up for being weak by not being a fool.'  
  
"I was robbing a pharaoh's tomb when it collapsed. I don't know why, but I'm certain it was intentional... there was no way a building of that structure could have caved in by itself. It's possible that the head priest wanted to erase the pharaoh for all memory, since they were always at each other's throat. It may have even been my partner who wanted a bigger share of the goods." He mused.  
  
He then let out another small ironic laugh, pleased to have such an attentive audience, and to finally have someone to listen to him. He was far from trusting his copy, but he didn't see the point of killing him, or using violence on him. What did he have to gain that way? If anything, by getting the boy to trust him, he could probably use him for his own personal gain more efficiently. The best victim is always a gullible fool, isn't it?  
  
The tomb raider pushed that little part of himself that longed for affection or companionship away. After all, what had that brought him in Egypt? Nothing more than getting betrayed by the only person he trusted, the one who took him away from his poor excuse for a father, and had been his partner in crime. Come to think of it, his partner had looked a lot like...  
  
He pushed that thought away and was this seemed to break a dam of memories, each more horrible then the last... the worst one being his own death. It didn't feel like he had died. It was more like he had fallen asleep for thousands of years.  
  
How he had longed for that eternal sleep when he was trapped in that tomb with a leg crushed by rubble.  
  
He smiled bitterly. "The tomb whose riches would have kept me alive ended up being the cause of my death. Isn't that ironic? There I was, trapped with what I would have used to be able to feed myself, and I starved to death."  
  
Ryou looked at him sympathetically. "And Kaiba used the bodies in that pharaoh's tomb for his experiments?"  
  
The tomb raider flexed his artificial arm. "Yes. And many others, but they didn't survive. Only the pharaoh and I were left in the end, after all those experiments. Most of them disintegrated because the scientists had the wrong DNA code. I was a fluke... they screwed up when creating me and actually succeeded in stabilizing the nuclear DNA. It was months before they were able to reproduce that mistake and create the pharaoh."  
  
The tomb raider then touched his left cheek, where all the machinery was protruding.  
  
"But I wasn't a 'perfect creation'. They messed up my code partially, and so I never got a right arm. But they fixed that. Underneath my skin there's more wiring then in the wall of this whole damn room. Same thing for the pharaoh. That's the catch when you're creating humans. They're never perfect. Malik knows more then me as to why we're pretty much machines. What I gather is that it's impossible to reproduce DNA of people long dead exactly the way it was like when they were alive. However, maybe they are able to do so now. Those damn scientists come up with something new every day to keep their precious job."  
  
"But that doesn't explain the ring." Ryou murmured.  
  
"The items contain memories. I knew that, but I never thought..."  
  
He paused. 'I never thought that they would be so painful,' were the words left unsaid. 'I always thought that this life was my hell, and that the previous one must have been better.'  
  
He snarled and drew more hate to his heart.  
  
"I don't understand any of the scientific crap. All I know is that they were able to transfer my memories to this piece of gold." The tomb raider laughed harshly. "And they had the nerve to use the millennium items from the pharaoh's tomb."  
  
Ryou furrowed his brows. "Millennium items?"  
  
The tomb raider suppressed a groan. "That's enough for today doll. Shut up and go to sleep or something."  
  
Ryou was becoming slightly braver thanks to the cyborg's less aggressive behaviour and decided to try his luck and pray that the tomb raider didn't take offence.  
  
"I'm not a doll. My name is Bakura Ryou, and since this is my house, I think I should have a say in the matter."  
  
The cyborg laughed and replied in a mocking tone, "Well doll, isn't that great. Now, in case you weren't paying attention, I said shut up and leave me alone."  
  
Ryou sighed. It was worth a try. "Could I at least know your name? I don't know what to call you."  
  
The tomb raider's eyes became distant, as if he was shutting down all his emotions. He hesitated slightly before speaking.  
  
"I hated my Egyptian name. It meant 'son of the light', when that was as far from the truth as you could get. It would suit you better. No... I wont be called by that silly name, or by a damn number."  
  
He then smirked. "I suppose that I'll steal your name. 'Bakura' doesn't bother me."  
  
Ryou smiled, his face slightly flushed. "Alright then Bakura. I'll go to sleep as you ordered. My room is upstairs if you need me."  
  
Bakura snorted and stood up, folding his arms across his chest. "At least you're learning, you damned doll. Next time you ask me so many questions, I'll make sure you die a slow and painful death."  
  
Ryou shuddered, hoping that was a joke as he made his way up the stairs.  
  
Bakura watched the boy disappear and suppressed a sigh. So this was the afterlife? It definitely wasn't what he had thought it would be.  
  
'However', he mused darkly, 'I CAN say I've been to H.E.L.L. and back.'  
  
The mere thought of that place shook him to the core. He had hated it. To them, he was nothing more then a machine, a tool to be used to create the Lacuna Project that Kaiba was working so hard on. While the Pharaoh was allowed freedom, Bakura had none.  
  
People sometimes forgot that the Pharaoh was a machine, but as for Bakura, because of his face and arm, that never happened. He was never human in their eyes. He had never been looked on as human... even in his previous life as a tomb raider.  
  
But Ryou...  
  
Was this fate's way of making amends? By giving the next soul to inhabit his body an easy life?  
  
Or was this fate's way of making it up to him by giving a companion with a kind soul?  
  
He pushed that thought away. Ryou could never be his. Not as a friend, not as anything more. The kind boy would never want a heartless machine as a friend... a machine that could never love again. Not anymore... not with these painful memories.  
  
He threw himself onto the couch and thought back to his partner. He didn't want to admit it, but that SOB looked almost exactly like Malik.  
  
"And the pharaoh... that boy I had caught... they looked exactly alike!"  
  
The revelation stunned him, and he was surprised that he had even thought of it. "And Ryou looks like me. They must be our reincarnated Ba. There's no other explanation. That means..."  
  
Malik must be his partner's reincarnation.  
  
'But... my partner is dead, right? Three thousand years... he must be dead.'  
  
"But the pharaoh found his double, and I found mine. It's as if the fates we pulling us together... as if it was destiny that we met. That means..."  
  
The corpse that Malik had wanted... the head that he had named Ishtar... was that--?  
  
"Shit!" Bakura cried out, standing up, "Malik is bringing that bastard back to life, and I helped him!!"  
  
He paced around the room. He had no way of knowing how advanced Malik was in creating Ishtar. Bakura estimated that it had taken about 3 months to complete the pharaoh, but the technology had to be better by now... for all he knew, Ishtar could be completed.  
  
"I hope that idiot Malik erased Ishtar's memories, because if Malik is dead..."  
  
If Malik were dead, he would lose his only chance for survival. Malik was the only one who would fix him if anything broke.  
  
Bakura shuddered. For the first time he had to admit that he was worried.  
  
But he wouldn't admit that he was somewhat attached to the blond scientist. Malik had been the first to show him some kindness, and to listen to his ideas, even if it was strictly on a business level.  
  
He cast his gaze to the stairway and the darkness that held Ryou's room.  
  
Reluctantly, but driven by some strength that wasn't his own, he made his way up the stairs, and opened the door to Ryou's room.  
  
His eyes softened as he watched the silver-haired boy sleep peacefully for a moment... then he shook him awake rather roughly.  
  
"Wake up boy, I need you to find an address for me."  
  
* * *  
  
Yami sighed for the tenth time that hour. Was this torture EVER going to end?  
  
"Don't be like that Yami, I'm almost done getting all the food we need. Then we can go home."  
  
It wasn't that they were at a grocery store. No, that didn't bother him. It was that Anzu had insisted on coming to help them and wouldn't stop talking to him.  
  
Anzu came back from an aisle, holding a few packs of ramen. (A.N. For those who don't know what ramen is, shame on you. ^.^)  
  
"Will this be enough Yugi?" she asked and the small boy smiled brightly, glad to be with his two favourite people.  
  
"Yes, I think so. Just don't get too many of the Korean kind, Yami can't eat it, its too spicy for him."  
  
Anzu laughed with Yugi, and Yami frowned. Were they making fun of him?  
  
"It's ok Yami, we all have our different tastes." Yugi assured him. Yami gave a small smile to reassure Yugi that he took no offence.  
  
Anzu smiled at Yugi and Yami's interaction. They complemented each other perfectly, like two halves of the same puzzle.  
  
Yugi was so much more light-hearted when Yami was around...and Yami only smiled for Yugi.  
  
'If only I could have that kind of a relationship with someone. A deep bond like that is hard to find.'  
  
"Anzu? Were done now. Yami's getting the rice, and we can go home." Yugi called out.  
  
Anzu snapped out of her dazed and followed after Yugi, thinking of Yami, and if she could ever imagine to be as close to him as Yugi.  
  
  
  
Yami walked swiftly, ventilating some of his annoyance with rough movements. All he wanted was a day alone with his hikari, was that too much to ask?  
  
Here they were in a food store, and there were so many people that it was suffocating Yami. It was as if everyone was there, right then at that hour. Even Jounouchi was there.  
  
'Wait a minute.'  
  
Yami took a step back, wondering if his vision was failing. But no, there the tall boy was, in the aisle where Yugi had found boxes of 'pocky'.  
  
He was about to say hello to him, as the rules of politeness dictated, but stopped.  
  
Jounouchi was in a heated argument with someone, in the middle of a food store.  
  
He slunk over to the aisle next to Jou's and strained to listen to what was being said through the shelves.  
  
"Listen Kaiba, this is ridiculous, Yugi has nothing to do with H.E.L.L., and you know it."  
  
'Kaiba!' Yami's mind raced. 'He's the one Jounouchi is arguing with?'  
  
"Listen puppy, if you still want your sister to get her eye problem fixed, you will do as I tell you." It was definitely Kaiba.  
  
"You've been saying that for the past 5 months! Kaiba, I don't mind doing your dirty work, but one day you'll have to pay up." Jou shot back.  
  
"Then why don't you accept the damn money, dog! I'm offering you a decent pay!"  
  
"So I can be your permanent lackey? Yeah right! I wont do anything else until you set the date for my sister's operation. Don't bullshit me Kaiba, I know you have the resources, you're just wasting time!"  
  
Kaiba was silent for a moment, and Yami strained to hear his next words.  
  
"Once your sister has had her operation, what will you do?" Kaiba asked softly. Where was the proud and determined Kaiba that Yami had known?  
  
"Then I'll take up some clean job and gain some money so that I can support her." Jou said, and Yami was moved by the emotion there. Jou must really adore his sister to go as far as being at Kaiba's mercy.  
  
"Then I'll schedule the appointment and get the best of my scientists to perform the operation." Kaiba said, some of his determination returning.  
  
Yami couldn't see well, but he could see Jou frown. "-But? What's the catch Kaiba? There's got to be. I know you well enough to know that you wouldn't just let me walk off."  
  
Yami turned his face to look at Kaiba. The proud man that had overseen his creation was strikingly different. He looked tired and worn out, and Yami could see that there was a great amount of pain that Kaiba concealed.  
  
Yami didn't understand though. Kaiba had never had any qualms about disposing of spies and henchmen before. Why was Jounouchi's case so different? Kaiba looked so desperate, as if he was trying to hold on to something precious that was being taken away from him.  
  
"Your sister will get that operation as long as afterwards you work for Kaiba corp. I'll give you a clean job with good pay, and you wont hear about H.E.L.L. ever again."  
  
"There's another 'but' coming, right?" Jounouchi muttered.  
  
"You have to bring-" Kaiba's voice was cut off by Anzu calling out his name.  
  
"Yami! Yugi is ready to go now!"  
  
Yami cursed profusely as Kaiba and Jounouchi turned their attention towards Anzu's voice. He ran towards her and dragged her off.  
  
"Alright, were leaving, just quiet down!" Yami hissed at her.  
  
Anzu raised an eyebrow. "Alright, but Yami, where is the rice?"  
  
"..."  
  
Kaiba turned back to face Jou and smiled. So the pharaoh was here with Yugi? It was perfect.  
  
"The pharaoh must have heard most of our conversation."  
  
Jou frowned and crossed his arms. "Alright, that's great. Really. I'm thrilled that Yami thinks I'm the bad guy. Now can we get back to what we were discussing earlier?"  
  
Kaiba nodded curtly, but the smile didn't leave his lips. He was planning something.  
  
"I told you that I wasn't going to let you involve Yugi in this. I don't care if some of your cameras saw him with the 'tomb raider', or that the 'pharaoh' is living with him. He probably doesn't know anything about the Lacuna project, and wont tell the authorities."  
  
"What makes you so sure of that?" Kaiba asked snidely, the facade was back up. Kaiba was no longer a man who was trying to delay the inevitable. He knew exactly what he would do. But he needed Yami to do it. "Yugi really cares about Yami, and if he told anyone about H.E.L.L., he might lose him. Yugi wouldn't betray someone he cares about." Jounouchi murmured.  
  
"Maybe so, but I cant allow him to simply keep my perfect creation." Kaiba said.  
  
"Why not? You've got all your scientist out there with a death warrant for him, he can't be all that important to you." Jou returned.  
  
"That's true. But I've changed my mind. I have an important task that needs to be done, but since you refuse to kill anyone, I have no one to do it."  
  
Jou's eyes widened in horror. "You've got to be kidding Kaiba!"  
  
"No dog, I'm dead serious. Your last job will be a critical one, and if you refuse it, your sister will not get her eye operation." There was a glint of triumph in Kaiba's eyes. He knew that Jou wouldn't refuse. There was too much on the line for him.  
  
Jou looked away, defeated. He had no choice.  
  
"What do you want me to do?"  
  
* * *  
  
  
  
Hey guys, sorry again for the delay. I made sure to make the chapter longer to make up for it. I'll be writing another chapter shortly. I just wish I wasn't so bad at typing... (sigh) Sorry for the long rant too, I just needed to get some of that stuff off my chest.  
  
Ok, yeah. This was pretty funny to write. I mean, do you think Seto has ever set food in a supermarket, or much less even set up a secret meeting there? Whatever. Let's just say he was being creative that day. I mean, who would have thought to look in a grocery store for him? See, no one would ever think to look there! Secret meeting is secret. ^.^;  
  
Just so that you guys know, I don't mind Anzu, and I don't agree with portraying her as a bitch. I mean, personally, if I ever met a guy like Yami, I'd have a crush on him too. And those 'friendship' speeches? Well, Yami gives those annoying 'heart of the cards' speeches, and we can forgive him for that, right? So don't go too rough on her. I just can't bring myself to pair her up with anyone though... so Anzu haters rejoice! I'm not that nice. ^.^;  
  
REVIEW!!!!!!! 


	7. Viator

Hey guys! What's up? Now I can spend some quality time with this fic! ^.^ Thank you all for being so patient! I'm afraid that you might have to be patient again, since my control-freak father just banned me from the computer again. Why? Because I didn't turn it off for the night. (Grumbles something remotely like the f-word along with several other expletives) I'd like to see him stop me. (winks)  
  
Alright, I think I owe my wonderful reviewers a little background on this story. So here it is:  
  
The idea first came to me, believe it or not, 2 years ago. It wasn't meant to be a YGO fic, but rather a Rurouni Kenshin fic. Kenshin was in Yami and Bakura's situation, Kaoru was in the same situation as Yugi and Ryou, and Sano or Megumi in Malik's position. It wasn't going to be a 'clone ancient corpses' thing, but rather, 'mess up a human' thing. The whole ancient corps cloning came to me thanks to Psychology class and after watching the Discovery channel. Good old Discovery channel. Gotta love it.  
  
Anyways, keep that in mind when I start to develop the story. Those of you that are familiar with Kenshin will understand when I say that Yami is about to go Battousai.  
  
Enjoy!  
  
Chapter 7 - Viator  
  
  
  
Yugi was looking over the note for the tenth time. What did it mean? Jounouchi-kun had slipped it to him after class. Now, in the comfort of his own room, his mind plagued him for answers.  
  
The note was simple enough. All it said was:  
  
'Hell is waiting.'  
  
Those three words were more puzzling then any riddle. Had he never met Yami, he might have thought that it was a suicide note. After all, it WAS morbid enough. But... Did Jounouchi know about H.E.L.L.?  
  
Assuming he did, was the note a threat?  
  
Or was it a warning?  
  
If so, for who? Was the note meant for Yami or himself?  
  
It was at this moment that Yami had chosen to enter the room. Seeing Yugi's confused face worried him, and he kneeled next to him and stroked his cheek gently.  
  
"Aibou... what's wrong? You look lost."  
  
Yami's voice warmed Yugi, and soothed him. As long as Yami was with him, everything would be alright.  
  
Yugi placed the note in Yami's hand and tiredly leaned his head on Yami's shoulder while he was reading.  
  
"Who gave you this?" Yami asked, his voice seeming strangely controlled. As if he didn't want Yugi to know what he was feeling.  
  
"It was Jounouchi-kun. He gave it to me today without saying a word. What does it mean Yami?" Yugi's soft breath tickled Yami's face.  
  
Yami looked strait ahead. It was bad. Without any doubt, this was Kaiba calling him out, telling him to return. His newfound freedom was over. Kaiba wanted his doll back.  
  
But he couldn't tell Yugi.  
  
"I don't know." Yami lied.  
  
Yugi, as though they had known each other for all eternity, could sense that Yami wasn't telling him the truth, but he let it pass. Everyone was entitled to their secrets.  
  
Guilt was gnawing at Yami's heart. He hated lying to Yugi... it made him feel sick. Besides, it was selfishness on his part. He didn't want to see Yugi's sad face.  
  
He couldn't tell him that he had to leave.  
  
With Jou as a minion, Kaiba would know where they live... and that means that he could take him back whenever he pleased.  
  
By force, even.  
  
But then again, Kaiba wasn't that kind of person. He would use something more effective then brute force... he could use Yugi.  
  
A chill ran though him. His arms wrapped themselves around Yugi's waist and brought the small boy closer to him. Yami marvelled at the comfort that this simple action brought him.  
  
"Yami, what's wrong?" Yugi asked, slightly surprised by the taller boy's action.  
  
"You mean so much to me Yugi... I'm so glad I met you." Yami breathed in Yugi's scent, eager to remember as much as he could about him.  
  
Yugi looked at his twin with a puzzled expression. Why was he acting like this? As if they would never see each other again?  
  
"I'm glad I met you too Yami. You're the best friend I've ever had."  
  
Yugi had meant for the words to be comforting, but he saw hurt flash through Yami's eyes.  
  
"Only that?" Yami murmured so softly that Yugi almost missed it.  
  
"Did I say something wrong Yami? Did I offend you?"  
  
Yami mentally kicked himself. He wasn't telling Yugi he was leaving because he didn't want Yugi to be sad, yet he had single-handedly done the same thing without even trying. He wanted to see his aibou smile before he left... that heart-stopping smile that Yami had the privilege of seeing from time to time.  
  
"Aibou... I'm sorry. You didn't say anything wrong. It's just... You're the only person I've ever had such strong feelings for. Do you feel the same way?"  
  
Yugi pulled away from Yami's embrace to look at his face. He was completely sincere. The depth of emotion he found in Yami's formerly cold eyes was startling, and shocked Yugi to the core.  
  
The emotion that he felt towards Yami was so different then the way he cared for Anzu that it confused him. Didn't he love Anzu? If so, why did he have stronger feelings for Yami then her?  
  
Hesitantly, he gave Yami a shy smile. "I've worried that I was a burden to you sometimes Yami, but you're the person I trust the most. You're the only person I'd give my heart to without any second thought."  
  
Yami smiled, a smile that Yugi had never seen before. It lit up his whole face and made him seem younger then before.  
  
"I'm glad." Yami said simply.  
  
Yugi smiled shyly, a little taken aback by Yami's obvious display of affection.  
  
When a yawn escaped his lips, Yugi climbed into bed.  
  
"That note may be nothing to worry about Yami. I'll ask Jounouchi what it means tomorrow, ok?"  
  
Yami shifted his weight uneasily. "Yeah."  
  
Yugi fell asleep with a soft smile on his lips. Yami couldn't help but look at the sleeping boy longingly.  
  
"Why must the gods tease me with what I can't have? First my freedom, now Yugi..." With a sigh, he placed a soft kiss on Yugi's cheek.  
  
"I'm sorry aibou."  
  
With that, he climbed out Yugi's window. There was enough of a ledge to allow him to close it behind him, but since there was no mysterious tree around like there normally should be when one is trying to make a daring escape out of a bedroom window, Yami jumped down to the ground with the grace of a cat.  
  
Yami's eyes hardened when he found none other then Jounouchi waiting for him on the street. Jou's expression was resigned, and his hands were stoically shoved into his pockets.  
  
"He's waiting for you."  
  
  
  
* * * * *  
  
Bakura hated walking around in the dark.  
  
It wasn't because he was afraid of it or anything.  
  
It was just because he had spent most of his life in it, and light had become somewhat of a novelty. That's all, right? He just wanted to cling to what wouldn't accept him, what he couldn't have.  
  
The tomb had been so dark...  
  
Shaking these thoughts from his head, he checked the piece of paper once again. It was written in Ryou's neat scrawl.  
  
For Ryou's sake at least, he hoped that Ishtar wasn't operational.  
  
The boy looked too much like himself... And Ishtar, before becoming his partner, had been a priest. A corrupt one, but a priest none the less. So if Malik was stupid enough to let Ishtar keep his memories, there was no doubt in Bakura's mind that Ishtar had figured everything out... at least the Ka and Ba part. So Ishtar would recognise Malik as his own reincarnation, and Ryou as Bakura's.  
  
If Ishtar ever found Ryou...  
  
He pushed these thoughts away.  
  
"That bastard wont find Ryou because I'll kill him first!" Bakura growled. He stalked towards the address that was indicated on the paper and pounded on the door.  
  
A sleepy-eye Malik slowly opened the door, grumbling at his own misfortune of being woken up in the middle of the night.  
  
Bakura shoved the door open and pushed Malik aside.  
  
"Where is he?! I know you have him, you fool of a scientist!" Bakura growled.  
  
Malik closed the door and locked it again with a sigh. " 'Fool of a scientist?' First Kaiba and now even my creations are critics. Ah, the work of a genius is never appreciated."  
  
"Quit your bitching and tell me where Ishtar is!" Bakura yelled, grabbing Malik by the collar.  
  
A fist connected with Bakura's face, sending him sprawling backwards.  
  
"I'm right here." Ishtar smiled snidely.  
  
Malik, who had been released from Bakura's grip, got up and dusted himself off.  
  
"I take it you two know each other?"  
  
"We go a long way back." Ishtar laughed, straddling the fallen Bakura and punching him repeatedly.  
  
Bakura flickered to life and shoved Ishtar off. Deciding to return the favour, he began to punch him, ignoring the dry crunching sound his ministrations produced.  
  
"You bastard! I trusted you!" Bakura followed up with a mouthful of expletives and smashed Ishtar's head repeatedly into the floor.  
  
Malik rubbed his temples. "I might as well make coffee. I'll be up all night fixing those two."  
  
Ishtar's eyes flashed with an unknown light and his cruel smile widened. "So you remember?"  
  
"I'll KILL you!" was Bakura's only response.  
  
Ishtar laughed sadistically. "Well then, dear partner... allow me to take away your pain, as I should have done then."  
  
Ishtar got back on top of Bakura and thrust his hand INTO Bakura's left cheek, bringing with it numerous wires as he removed it.  
  
Bakura's eye widened in horror, and his mouth curled in the semblance of a scream, but no sound came out.  
  
As one pulls a plug from a light that's turned on, Bakura's cheek sparked and his body turned itself off with a dull shudder.  
  
His eyes remained open, starring at Ishtar with accusing blindness, their dark depths lifeless.  
  
Ishtar grinned and leaned down to whisper in his former partner's ear.  
  
"You're such an old model... so fragile! But don't worry. I know how much you hated the dark. You wont be in it for too long. Only until Malik-sama reformats you."  
  
Malik came back into the room with his coffee. He rolled his eyes at the scene.  
  
"You ruined 3223! Do you have any idea how many hours I spent trying to get his body to work perfectly?"  
  
Ishtar laughed mockingly as he kicked Bakura's lifeless body.  
  
"You're good. You can fix him."  
  
Malik smiled brightly. "That was the first compliment that I've heard in ages! I think you're starting to warm up to me!"  
  
Ishtar snickered. "It's all in your head."  
  
Malik smirked. "There are many things in this pretty head of mine."  
  
"So there are."  
  
"That's why I prefer to keep my head on my shoulders."  
  
Ishtar crossed his arms, ignoring Bakura's unmoving body. "Has Kaiba terminated any other scientists this week?"  
  
"Takeda is gone... presumably dead. The Lacuna project is advancing smoothly. I'm worried that my own termination time is approaching shortly."  
  
"Why wont you let me simply kill him?" Ishtar asked, annoyed.  
  
"It's not nice to kill one's boss. Besides... with all the expenses I spent to make you, I NEED next week's pay check."  
  
"Hn. You'll need that money even more once you're finished fixing HIM." Ishtar nudged Bakura's body with his foot.  
  
"So you don't mind playing the bodyguard for the scientist who knows too much?" Malik smirked.  
  
"Not at all. I look forward to your termination time."  
  
"HEY!" Malik fumed, "What's that supposed to mean?!"  
  
Ishtar looked at his flawless hand with interest. "I can't wait to test out this body's full potential. My darling partner wasn't much of a challenge."  
  
Malik's eyes lit up. "Oh! I can change that! The technology has gotten better now, so I could try and upgrade him to meet the high standards I established with your creation!"  
  
"Sounds interesting." Ishtar laughed.  
  
Malik nodded enthusiastically, eager to make the former 'failed creation' a perfect one, like the pharaoh. This would be a challenge that would prove his skills and intelligence. Kaiba was a fool to think he could simply terminate all the scientists once the Lacuna project was completed. Malik's mind was priceless. You don't just kill priceless things.  
  
Ishtar helped him haul Bakura's lifeless body to the lab in the basement.  
  
The blond Egyptian stroked his partner's hair. "There's just one more thing Malik-sama."  
  
"Hm?" Malik looked up from the cabinet he was getting his supplies from.  
  
"I want you to take away all his memories. Everything."  
  
Malik's eyebrows shot up. "Why should I do that?"  
  
"What's the point of a game of cat and mouse if the cat doesn't have an advantage?" Ishtar sneered.  
  
* * * *  
  
Dun dun duuuuunnnnnn!!!  
  
Bat: (announcer-type voice) What will happen to Yami? Is Jou really on the dark-side? Will Malik get 'terminated' by Kaiba, or will Ishtar protect him? And what about poor Ryou, unwittingly sending his darker self to his doom by using 411! Oh the agony! Find out in the next chapter of 'LACUNA', coming to a computer screen near you!  
  
Heero: You forgot the disclaimer again.  
  
Bat: (Pouts) Cant you take care of that for me?  
  
Heero: No.  
  
Bat: I'll pay you.  
  
Heero: ...  
  
Bat: I have author powers you know!  
  
Heero: (clearly not impressed) Hn.  
  
Bat: Oh well. Maybe next chapter I'll find some sucker willing to do the disclaimer. Go back to chapter 6 if you're a lawyer.  
  
Heero: (dryly) Aren't you worried about getting sued?  
  
Bat: Why should I be? They wont get any money from me! I have none!  
  
Heero: ... (Didn't she just offer to pay me?)  
  
Bat: Reviews are always appreciated! I'm hoping to hit the 100 mark by the next chapter! (laughs insanely as Heero rolls his eyes) 


	8. Internecinus

(smirks) Peace! My 100-review quota was reached! I love you all! ^^ Once I finish this fic, I'll be reaching into my knowledge of mythology for a fic... But first things first!  
  
I know I've been slow to update... It drives me crazy when other authors do that. I'm such a hypocrite... (laughs) Thank you for all being so supportive!  
  
Anyways, this is just a friendly reminder to some people: If you're going to say you don't like my story, that's fine. Just make your criticism CONSTRUCTIVE. If it's my writing style that bugs you, tell me, and I'll try to fix it. If it's the storyline... well, then that's just tough, I'm not changing it. 100 other people don't seem to mind it, right?  
  
I'm amazed by some of the insight you guys have! Lol... I was happy that you pointed out that Bakura would now look human, Lady Geuna! With all the things I'm trying to do with this fic, I had forgotten that this was the whole point of making Malik fix him. ^^; Keep those reviews coming, they're incredibly motivating!  
  
  
  
Chapter 8 - Internecinus*  
  
  
  
Yugi stared blankly out of the class window, watching the tree branches tremble under the chilly wind.  
  
The teacher was going on about the Tokugawa period and the Meiji restoration, but he couldn't hear any of it. He couldn't hear or feel anything anymore. Yugi had tried to shake off the unrelenting numbness, but his forced smiles never fixed anything. They only stopped others from acting as if they cared.  
  
'Why did Yami leave me?'  
  
Two weeks. Yami had left without telling him goodbye two weeks ago. At first Yugi thought that he would be back the next morning... but when Jounouchi refused to speak to him, or look him in the eye, he knew the truth.  
  
Yami was back in H.E.L.L., and there was nothing he could do to get him back.  
  
'But why didn't he say goodbye?' Yugi thought to himself. 'I thought he understood how I felt about him... I was so sure.'  
  
Questions plagued him incessantly, their weight dragging down his heart, his soul.  
  
But even lost in his own dark thoughts, Yugi couldn't help but notice how nervous Ryou had gotten.  
  
The normally calm boy was now fidgety, jumping at every sharp noise. But what really stood out were the dark rims under his eyes. Yugi guessed that Ryou must have barely slept for the last few weeks too.  
  
It was strange... that they should both be like this, so unlike their normal cheerful selves. The teachers were convinced that they must both have gotten some kind of flu and seemed annoyed whenever either of them stepped into the classroom.  
  
With a sigh, Yugi picked up his pencil and pretended to pay attention.  
  
Absent-mindedly, he began to draw an object that he had started seeing in his dreams as soon as Yami had left. It was a strange pyramid-like shape with an eye in the middle.  
  
He couldn't remember the colour, or the relative size of the object, but in some strange way, he was certain that it belonged to Yami. The dream never had Yami in it, but he simply KNEW that it was his.  
  
The bell shook him out of his reverie. He stuffed the paper into his pocket and left the classroom.  
  
Ryou was waiting to walk home with him, as usual.  
  
The snowy-haired boy was the only person Yugi could tolerate now. Everyone else would ask questions, and ask him where Yami was. But Ryou seemed to understand. He never asked any questions. Yugi guessed that Ryou had lost something important to him too. They were the same. They both felt the same.  
  
The wind picked up and Yugi hid deeper in his jacket. Ryou shivered, but said nothing. He was constantly looking around though. It seemed to be a nervous habit.  
  
'Or maybe he's looking for something he lost... Ryou didn't have a pet though, did he?'  
  
A loud crash made both Yugi and Ryou jump.  
  
"What was that?" Yugi cried out. The sound was too close for comfort.  
  
"It came from that alley. Maybe it was some garbage cans that fell... I don't know. Would you like to go see?" Ryou asked Yugi calmly. But Yugi could see some kind of wild hope light up in Ryou's eyes, and knew that what was just said wasn't meant to be a question.  
  
They both rushed towards the alley, Yugi hiding slightly behind the taller boy. Even if Ryou was pacifistic, there was no doubt in Yugi's mind that Ryou was strong. The taller boy just hid it well.  
  
Ryou looked back towards Yugi. Of course the smaller boy was scared. He was afraid himself.  
  
He had looked everywhere for Bakura these last two weeks, without success. The guy at the address Bakura had asked him to find claimed that Bakura had yelled at him a bit then left.  
  
The story was a lie, and Ryou knew it.  
  
But two weeks worth of searching had yielded nothing, and Ryou was beginning to loose hope.  
  
But now...  
  
The boys walked cautiously into the alley, Yugi afraid of finding thugs waiting for them, Ryou afraid of finding nothing.  
  
A glimmer of silver caught Yugi's eye, and he heard Ryou utter a strangled cry.  
  
  
  
Everything was happening too fast.  
  
  
  
Ryou rushed towards Bakura and enfolded him in his arms, as Yugi stood back, dumbstruck.  
  
Tears of relief flooded Ryou's eyes as he clutched his dirty copy to his chest. The tears mingled with the dirt on Bakura's face, but the now flawless cyborg didn't flinch.  
  
There was no recognition in Bakura's dead eyes.  
  
  
  
* * * * *  
  
  
  
Malik rubbed his temples.  
  
"I'm feeling another major headache heading my way." He muttered.  
  
The Dragon and the Dog were arguing with each other again. And whenever those two argued, Kaiba would get crabbier then usual and double their workload.  
  
"This sucks." Malik sighed. He could see the peaceful afternoon walk that he had planned with Ishtar going down the drain.  
  
He regretted not letting Ishtar kill Kaiba now. If the cyborg had been allowed to follow his murderous impulses, maybe they would both be on some sunny beach, plotting to take over the world by now. But nooooooo. Kaiba simply HAD to promise a million dollar bonus to his best scientists if they finished the Lacuna project within the month.  
  
'Damn greed.'  
  
Malik had thought it would have been easy. After all, he had created Ishtar (his masterpiece, fittingly named after the Babylonian goddess of beauty and war) fast enough. The Lacuna project should have been a joke compared to cloning an ancient Egyptian mummy. And for the Lacuna project, they had the whole body. Malik had only had Ishtar's head to work with.  
  
It should have been easier.  
  
But nooooo... Kaiba not only wanted specific memories erased, he wanted to implant memories too!  
  
"That guy has no idea how the human brain works. He thinks we can just do the same thing as we would do to a computer. He doesn't understand that memories are formed with electrical pulses in the brain, not computer chips." Malik mumbled.  
  
"What was that?" Kaiba snapped.  
  
Malik jumped, startled. He hadn't heard the jerk approach.  
  
"I'm glad that you enjoy the topic of the human brain, because you have been chosen to help fix one." Kaiba said coolly.  
  
Malik looked over to Jounouchi, who was standing behind Kaiba.  
  
"I'm not a miracle worker Kaiba. I can't fix what was never there." Malik replied calmly.  
  
Jou growled and uttered a few choice insults. Kaiba had to repress a snigger.  
  
"Not the dog. I need you to perform an eye operation on his sister. If you do this as well as complete the Lacuna project, I'll double your bonus." Kaiba stated.  
  
Malik felt his jaw drop and his legs get weak. 'TWO MILLION DOLLARS! Forget the beach, Ishtar and I could have our own resort! Complete with those drinks with the little umbrellas in them!'  
  
Malik composed himself. He straitened his tie and cleared his voice. "When can I see the patient?"  
  
Jou glared at him. "Never! I'm not letting an ass like you touch my sister! Get her another doctor Kaiba, NOW!"  
  
Kaiba ruffled Jounouchi's hair almost affectionately. "Idiot. What he lacks in personality, he makes up with in skill. Malik is the only scientist here with a 100% success rate. I wouldn't trust anyone else to take care of Shizuka."  
  
Malik smirked at the compliment and at Jou's pout. This day was turning out better then he had expected.  
  
"I'll be ready to start in an hour Kaiba-sama. Please inform the workers to supply my lab with the necessary equipment. I'll be awaiting the lady's presence." Malik smirked and mock-bowed, prompting Jou to growl at him again.  
  
Kaiba eyed Malik's retreating figure with amusement. "You need not worry. When there's money at stake, Malik performs better then any surgeon in this country. He could probably even perform that miracle he was talking about earlier."  
  
Kaiba walked off briskly, leaving Jou to stare at his back.  
  
"That guy cant say anything to me without planting an insult into it, can he?" Jou muttered, but couldn't help smiling.  
  
Shizuka would see again. For once, almost everything was perfect.  
  
A small figure walked past him. His ruby eyes and king-like stature made him unmistakable. Jou's heart sank.  
  
"Where are you heading Yami?" Jou asked.  
  
The small figure didn't grace Jou with a glance back, but Jou know that if he had, the eyes would have chilled him to the bone.  
  
The former pharaoh turned puppet didn't stop walking. There was the unmistakable black mini-disc in his hand.  
  
Blood would be spilled tonight.  
  
Jou simple blinked as the small shadow disappeared, taking along with it his good mood.  
  
"What a mess I've gotten myself into..."  
  
  
  
* * * * *  
  
Wahhha!! I don't want to end it here, but if I don't, it'll ruin the flow of the next chapter! ;____;  
  
Anyways, I'm back and kicking! Equipped with a new computer, Bat is ready to take on any challenge, ever that of trying to stop outsmarting herself! (winks)  
  
* Latin for "deadly". To answer a question I was asked a while ago, the Latin words I get are from my English dictionary. Sometimes I think of a word that I want, and try to find it. Sometimes, like for this chapter, it just jumps out at me when I look at a random page. ^.^ I'd love to learn Latin though!  
  
Review onegai-shimasu! 


	9. Liberi Fatali

Tada! I'm back! Thank you for all the lovely reviews! I suck at responding, but I assure you that I read them over and over again and they always make me smile! ^.^  
  
Wow, I really have nothing to say this time, don't I?  
  
Heero: It's about time you learn to shut up.  
  
Bat: Tisk tisk, Heero. This fic is PG 13. I wont tolerate swearing.  
  
Heero: ...  
  
Bat: Ok, ok. I just made that rule up. But I'm the almighty author! I can do whatever the hell I want to! (laughs)  
  
Heero: (death glare)  
  
  
  
Chapter 9- Liberi Fatali  
  
  
  
Ryou gently used a towel to dry Bakura's now clean hair.  
  
Yugi was now sleeping on Ryou's bed upstairs. The smaller boy had been helping Ryou with Bakura all afternoon and was obviously exhausted.  
  
Yugi had been slightly shaken up by the sight of Bakura in that alley, but he had soon understood that Ryou knew about H.E.L.L., and told him about his own situation with Yami.  
  
Ryou could tell by the look in his eyes that Yugi was terrified that Yami would end up like Bakura, alone and mindless in an alley. Ryou had been too numb at the time to quiet his friend's unspoken fear, and he now regretted his silence. He regretted a lot of things.  
  
Like giving Bakura that damned address.  
  
Ryou sighed and shifted to get better access to Bakura's hair.  
  
A loud snore brought Ryou out of his reverie. Ryou chuckled at the sound. He had never gotten used to his father's snoring, and he supposed it was almost a good thing that he was away so often, otherwise Ryou would probably never get any sleep.  
  
The aforementioned father had been asleep in the master bedroom when Ryou and Yugi came home with the filthy Bakura. Ryou guessed that his father had gotten home sometime in the afternoon. Being overworked as he was, it wasn't rare for his father to come home and sleep for two days strait before heading off to work again.  
  
His nearly comatose father hadn't woken up when Ryou and Yugi had struggled to wash the unresponsive Bakura. Ryou guessed that it was just as well.  
  
He had no idea how he would explain Bakura's presence.  
  
For the past few hours, as he had been absentmindedly taking care of Bakura, Ryou thought of how he could break it to his father that he had a robot copy. No matter how he formulated the statement, it still sounded ridiculous, even to his own ears. And to think, breaking that news to his father was the least of his problems.  
  
There was something horribly wrong with Bakura.  
  
Physically, Bakura looked fine. More then fine, actually. He looked perfect. Skin that had once been marred by machinery was now as soft and flawless as porcelain.  
  
'He's beautiful.' Ryou thought, putting down the towel. He picked up a brush and gently started to pull it through Bakura's hair. Bakura didn't even blink.  
  
And that was the problem.  
  
Before, even though Bakura had LOOKED like a cyborg, he had acted perfectly human.  
  
'Ok, he was slightly sadistic, but he had feelings and acted human nonetheless. But now... its like he's a doll.'  
  
Seated comfortably in front of Ryou, Bakura hadn't moved a muscle since they had sat down an hour ago. He hadn't even flinched as Ryou absentmindedly rubbed his hair with a towel for a good hour. Lost in his thoughts, Ryou hadn't noticed the time go by.  
  
Bakura's dull eyes simply stared ahead.  
  
He had been like that since they found him. In the alley, Ryou had flung his arms around Bakura's neck and had sobbed for joy. Instead of tossing him off and yelling at him like Ryou expected him to, Bakura had been motionless. No yelling, no swearing. Bakura hadn't even flinched. He had simply stood still and had gotten to his feet when Ryou placated him to, and had followed him mindlessly when Ryou grasped his dirty hand.  
  
"A doll." Ryou murmured.  
  
He had phoned the number corresponding to the address he had found for Bakura. The voice on the other end had simply laughed at his frantic pleas.  
  
"My beloved partner only got an upgrade!" The voice had said, "Don't you like it? He's much better looking now."  
  
Ryou had yelled at him angrily that he could shove the upgrade up somewhere. The voice had laughed at his frustration.  
  
"I like him much better now. He's not as loud and annoying."  
  
"What did you do to him?!" Ryou had cried out.  
  
"Oh... We just cleaned the mess that was between his ears."  
  
The conversation hadn't yielded more information then that. The jerk on the other line seemed to be taking an immense amount of pleasure in Ryou's frustration. The angrier Ryou got, the more the other person had laughed, until Ryou couldn't stand it anymore and had hung up. Yugi had stared at him in shock, surprised that the normally soft-spoken Ryou was capable of such aggression.  
  
'I've changed since I met Bakura.' Ryou thought. 'Even if it was for a short amount of time, I wasn't lonely anymore. I never want to be alone again.'  
  
Ryou leaned his head against Bakura's back and allowed his body to shudder with sobs.  
  
"What did they do to you?"  
  
Bakura turned to face Ryou, and for a moment Ryou thought that he was back to normal, that he would snarl at him for being weak.  
  
No. His eyes were still dead, his face still expressionless.  
  
But he had moved without being asked to. What did that mean?  
  
Ryou's lip trembled. He leaned his head against Bakura's chest and listened to his artificial heartbeat.  
  
"I thought for sure that I had found my soul mate when I met you. Please...love me, hate me, I don't care. But don't leave me alone. Please don't leave me alone!"  
  
Tears wouldn't come anymore, but Ryou leaned into Bakura's warmth. The cyborg then wrapped his arms around the boy. Whether it was reflex or not, Ryou didn't know, but it made him feel immensely better. Somewhere, behind those dead eyes, there was Bakura.  
  
Maybe one day, things would be back to the way they were. Until then, Ryou would make the most of what he had.  
  
Ryou reluctantly left Bakura's arms.  
  
"I'm going to put that towel back. Lie down, you're sleeping on the couch tonight." Ryou managed to put on a shaky smile.  
  
He headed soundlessly upstairs and hung the towel back on the rack. He then opened the door to his room and checked up on Yugi. The light from the hallway made Yugi groan and turn over in his sleep. Ryou smiled gently and closed the door.  
  
He turned around and jumped a bit when he saw Bakura standing there.  
  
"I didn't hear you following me. Go back downstairs, I'm just going to get some blankets for you from my father's room." Ryou whispered.  
  
Bakura didn't move. He simply stared at Ryou blankly.  
  
Ryou sighed. "You can come with me if you want, but be quiet. My father is dead tired."  
  
There was no point in telling Bakura this. Bakura moved without a sound in the dark, his socks not even shuffling the wooden floor as Ryou's were.  
  
Ryou gently opened the door to his father's room and was greeted by a loud snore. He walked over to the closet, Bakura following closely behind.  
  
There was a sudden glint of metal and Ryou cried out.  
  
Bakura had just caught a knife that was thrown with the intention of killing him.  
  
Near the window and his father's bed was a dark shadow that looked like...  
  
"YAMI!" Yugi cried out as he ran towards the figure, which growled and flung Yugi back.  
  
Sure enough, Yami was standing there, dressed from head to toe in black. The former pharaoh was holding a sword, and his blood-red eyes glinted in the darkness.  
  
Yugi's cry had woken up Ryou's father, who flung himself off the bed and away from Yami with a startled cry.  
  
Yami repressed a groan. He had thought that tonight's assassination would be simple.  
  
"All present must be eliminated..." He murmured to himself and jump effortlessly over the bed, sword raised to strike Ryou's father down.  
  
Ryou realised what Yami was trying to do and pushed his father out of the way...  
  
However, this placed Ryou in the path of Yami's sword, and Yami had no intention of letting Ryou live. Everyone here had to be killed. If the boy wanted to go first, so be it.  
  
Ryou closed his eyes, expecting the blade to pierce through his skin, but the fatal blow never came.  
  
He heard Yami take a sharp intake of breath. Ryou's eyes snapped open, and what he saw shocked him.  
  
Bakura was in front of Ryou and had blocked the blow with his arm.  
  
Wires sparked where the sword was embedded in the arm. Bakura took advantage of Yami's momentary stupor and slammed his fist into the Pharaoh's face.  
  
There was a sickening cracking sound and Yami was flung back against a wall. He slumped to the floor with a thud.  
  
'Bakura protected me.' Ryou thought with wonder. Bakura's face was as expressionless as ever, but he had taken the blow for him. Ryou wanted to cry.  
  
"What's going on?" Ryou murmured.  
  
His father was watching the scene develop in horror, and Yugi was in tears, clutching his wounded stomach.  
  
"Yami..." Yugi crawled over to the fallen assassin. "Yami."  
  
Before Yugi could touch him, Yami's eyes shot open. In a fluid movement, Yami was on his feet and he jumped away from Yugi.  
  
His eyes jumped around the room.  
  
He could see it, he could see his sword! All he had to do was grab it and complete his mission.  
  
But there was the cyborg standing between Yami and his sword. His arms were hanging limply by his side, sparks jumping from the cut Yami had inflicted. His eyes were dull, lifeless. There should be nothing to worry about. The cyborg's memory had been wiped out. He should simply grab his sword and kill them all.  
  
But the more Yami thought about it, the more uncertain he became.  
  
The white haired cyborg looked harmless, like a doll, but that wasn't true. When Yami had tried to attack the boy, the cyborg had protected him.  
  
And there was something about the small boy who was looking at him with tear-filled eyes...  
  
"This wasn't supposed to happen." Yami muttered.  
  
Before Ryou could blink, Yami was out the window. Yugi gasped and rushed towards the window. He watched his shadow disappear into the night, moulding into the darkness.  
  
Unable to retain the tears, Yugi slumped down to the ground and began to cry.  
  
  
  
* * * * * *  
  
  
  
(Rubs eyes) Its 2:00 am. I really wanted to post a chapter this week.  
  
Sorry if there are a bunch of typos, or sentences that are messed up. I tried to reread it, but the screen is starting to blur, so I think its time for me to go to bed.  
  
If someone would be so kind as to point out my errors in an email, I'll be happy to fix them. I'm thinking of rewriting this chapter anyways. It's supposed to be the coolest one yet, but I don't think my muddled mind was able to accomplish that. (sigh)  
  
Don't ask me why Yami has a sword. I don't know yet. I just like swords. Plus it fits in with the Battousai theme. ^.^  
  
Oh, and incase you guys are wondering, yes, Ryou gave Bakura a bath. Let your imagination take you where it will.  
  
I just realised that I ended this chapter with a cliff-hanger... Opps. ^^; Didn't mean to. Sorry. But you know, the more reviews I get, the more motivated I am to write!  
  
The title will be familiar to Final Fantasy VIII fans. I'm too tired to think of something on my own. ^^ Liberi Fatali means 'Fated Children.' It's a kick-ass song. Download it if you can.  
  
Thanks for reading. Review! 


	10. Scutum

^^ All the REVIEWS!! Wai!  
  
Sailor Comet, you know what? You keep hitting the nail on the head! I DID read Planet Ladder, and I LOVE Gold! ^^ But this story came from the fact that I love robot boys, and my annoyance at the fact that there aren't enough stories with them as main characters. I mean, look at Chobits. It's always the girls that are the robots. Why?  
  
Yami Krystal, I never read Soul Survivor.... I guess I'll have to put that on my list of books to read. Is it good?  
  
WOOHHOOO!! I'm going to Anime North! Sure it's a 5 hour drive from Montreal, but hey, it's a Gundam theme this year! (Dances around in circles) Midorikawa Hikaru, here I come! ^.^ I'll probably be going dressed up as Selphie from FF8. Hm... I wonder who else I could go as?  
  
Yugi's stomach was hurt because that's where Yami punched him... I guess I forgot to specify where he was hit. Sorry about that!  
  
Does anyone know how to do italics? It would have been really useful for this chapter... (sighs) And those page breaks? Grr. Whenever I put mover then 1 space in between lines, they get squished together when I upload. I don't get it.  
  
Chapter 10 - Scutum*  
  
Yugi faced the ceiling, clutching a pillow to his chest.  
  
"I can't believe it. Not Yami. Not Yami." He murmured. The tears had dried out long ago.  
  
'I was so afraid that Yami would be alone in H.E.L.L. or be thrown out like scrap like Bakura was. But this is worse. So much worse.'  
  
Yugi muffled a little sob.  
  
'Yami will never forgive himself if he gets his memory back.'  
  
Yugi's ceiling started to blur as tears threatened to fall.  
  
He felt so numb. Yami's eyes had been so frightening. Their beautiful crimson light had been extinguished and steel glint had taken its place. He was no longer the Yami who had smiled for him, who had confessed his feelings tenderly while holding him gently.  
  
The punch had hurt, but it didn't compare to the emotional pain Yugi was now feeling.  
  
'My Yami would never do that. He would never hurt anyone.'  
  
But how could he be so sure? Yugi was suddenly filled with doubt. He had only known Yami for a short time, and its true that he had always been kind to him, but was that his true personality?  
  
What if the Yami that he had seen the night before was the true Yami?  
  
'No.'  
  
It was impossible.  
  
Yami's tenderness was what was real. No human being could fake that kind of emotion.  
  
'But...'  
  
Yami wasn't human.  
  
'So...'  
  
His personality could easily have been programmed into him.  
  
'And...'  
  
Yami's feelings could have been artificial.  
  
'Like his heart.'  
  
Yugi couldn't hold the tears back anymore and he was sobbing into the pillow as Sugoroku Mutou lead Ryou and Bakura into the room.  
  
"Yugi." Ryou's sad eyes glanced at Bakura who stared ahead unblinkingly.  
  
Yugi's grandfather sighed. "He's been like that since I came home this afternoon. I was hoping that you could cheer him up, or at least get him to talk about his problem."  
  
Grandpa felt his heart stir up as his grandson sobbed. He had been gone a week for a dig with a branch from Kaiba Corp. that funded his archaeological discoveries, and was shaken to see his grandson so heartbroken on his return.  
  
At first he had thought it might be bullies, but he had pushed the thought away when he realised that this kind of pain only came from a broken heart.  
  
'And I wasn't around to mend it.' Sugoroku berated himself. He then let out another sigh.  
  
'After your parent's death I thought I could protect you my little Yugi. I never realised that the time in which I would be unable to do so would come so fast.'  
  
Sugoroku let Ryou and his strange look-alike into the room and closed the door. As he walked down the stairs he made up his mind.  
  
'I was thinking of waiting before giving Yugi that little pyramid, but I think I should give it to him now. It might cheer him up.' He thought.  
  
"Now where did I put that darn Millennium item?" He grumbled, going through the entire mountain of luggage and souvenirs he brought back.  
  
* * * * * *  
  
Ryou walked over to Yugi's bed and sat beside him.  
  
With as sob, Yugi sat up and gave his friend a shaky smile.  
  
"You don't need to pretend Yugi." Ryou said quietly.  
  
Yugi's smile fell and he stared at his hands.  
  
"I forgot Ryou." Yugi murmured so softly that Ryou almost missed it.  
  
"Forgot what Yugi?" Ryou asked gently, not wanting to upset his friend but also wanting answers.  
  
"I forgot that he wasn't human."  
  
That made Ryou start. He was talking about Yami, that much was certain. But of course Yami and Bakura aren't human. But they had feelings too, right? (well, not at the moment, but that's besides the point) Did it make such a big difference to Yugi?  
  
"Yami looked and acted so real that I forgot that he was part robot. What if the way he felt about me wasn't real Ryou? What if it was only programmed into him, like he was programmed to be an assassin?"  
  
Ryou's eyes softened.  
  
"I never really thought about that. When I first met Bakura he had metal sticking out of his cheek and his arm was artificial. He never looked human, so I never actually considered him human. But he acted it. He acted like someone who had been hurt too often and hated everyone. But that wasn't true. He had a gentle side too, I know it."  
  
Ryou paused to look at Bakura who was still standing in the doorway, staring ahead blankly.  
  
"But Yugi, Bakura had his memory cleaned out. He wasn't programmed to protect me. But he did. More then once last night."  
  
Ryou enveloped Yugi in a gentle hug.  
  
"And your Yami... he was holding a sword last night. Instead of punching you away, he could have killed you."  
  
"I know. I don't understand. It looked as though he recognized me for a moment, but then it was gone before I could be certain that it was ever there." Yugi murmured agains Ryou's shoulder.  
  
Neither Yugi nor Ryou had a chance to see the frown that formed on Bakura's face.  
  
"I think," Ryou smiled, "that no matter what those people from H.E.L.L. do to their heads, Yami and Bakura will always be the same people. Their personality might still be there, only that it is repressed. Do you understand what I mean?"  
  
Yugi nodded, a real smile forming on his lips for the first time since Yami left.  
  
"That means that there might still be hope. Yami might still be in there!" Yugi said.  
  
Ryou nodded, letting go on his small friend and reaching out for Bakura's hand.  
  
Bakura stepped close to the bed. His face was expressionless once more and he gently took Ryou's hand. Ryou was about to get up off the bed but Bakura sat down on the floor next to the bed and leaned his head against Ryou's knee. Startled, Ryou almost let go of his hand, but the gentle grip was firm.  
  
Ryou looked down at the mop of white hair questioningly. Then a smile formed on his lips.  
  
'He keeps on surprising me. I think I was wrong before... or maybe partially. Bakura isn't a doll. He's a puppet that's slowly beginning to regain control of the strings.'  
  
Ryou began to run his free hand through Bakura's snow white hair. For this, he was rewarded with a small sigh of pleasure.  
  
'Your will is too strong. The puppet master will soon see that all the strings will slip away from his grasp.'  
  
Ryou squeezed Bakura's hand affectionately.  
  
"You shouldn't worry Yugi. I'm sure that they are both still there, trapped inside their own minds."  
  
Yugi leaned over to see the small smile that danced on Bakura's lips. He would have missed it if he had only looked at Bakura's still dead-looking eyes.  
  
"I think you're right. Yami will always be Yami. I don't care what happens. I just want to be with him. But... is that normal Ryou? Don't you think it's strange to love someone who isn't human so much?" Yugi murmured.  
  
Ryou smiled as he looked at Bakura. "I think it's perfectly normal to love someone who we feel is stronger then ourselves. I wouldn't care if they aren't human."  
  
Yugi looked at Bakura and Ryou with a quizzical look then realization hit him. 'Ryou loves Bakura.' That much was painfully obvious. And yet...  
  
'He wants the old Bakura back... the one that scared the hell out of me when I went to see Yami the second time.' Yugi raised a mental eyebrow at this thought. But it made sense.  
  
'Ryou is exactly like me. He wants them to have their own personality, not one programmed into them.'  
  
Yugi smiled gently. "Thank you Ryou. I wont give up on Yami."  
  
A knock was heard at the door and Sugoroku entered the room.  
  
Yugi's grandfather raised an eyebrow at the Ryou and Bakura's position, but said nothing. Instead, he turned his attention to Yugi and held out a bundle.  
  
Yugi's eyes immediately brightened. "You brought me something back from Egypt grandpa?"  
  
Sugoroku laughed and handed Yugi the bundle. "You know I never go anywhere without bringing something back for you!"  
  
Yugi opened the cloth eagerly, surprised at what was hidden between its folds. The golden brightness of the pyramid was almost blinding, but it was unmistakable. It looked exactly like what he had seen in his dreams. The object that he was certain belonged to Yami.  
  
"It's a Millennium Item that we found in the tomb of the Unknown Pharaoh that Kaiba Corp has been working on for the past few years. Kaiba Seto himself insisted that I should take it."  
  
Ryou looked at it and gasped. "It looks exactly like my ring!"  
  
As he pulled the aforementioned ring out from underneath his shirt, Bakura let out a strangled cry.  
  
Everyone's attention turned to the former proud tomb raider as he screamed again and clutched his head. His slender body strained and became tense.  
  
He looked at the two items as his face contorted in pain. He let out another bone chilling cry and Ryou watched in horror, as his eyes lit up with a bright light and flickered off like a television set.  
  
Bakura fell face forward and lay sprawled on the carpet.  
  
The occupants of the room stared in shock.  
  
Sugoroku regained his senses first.  
  
"He's one of the test subjects for the Lacuna project, isn't he?"  
  
The other two boys stared at him in surprise.  
  
"That's what I thought. I'm phoning Malik."  
  
* * * * * * *  
  
*shield  
  
Evil, evil, evil. (laughs) I really want to write up the next chapter, so get me at least ten reviews today, and I'll try to get it done this weekend. ^_^  
  
Hm... I need to write up what's going on in H.E.L.L. now too. No, I didn't forget about our resident assassin and puppet master. And his dog. (winks)  
  
Anyone else going to AN?  
  
Review, ne? 


	11. Creo

O.O OMG. I never imagined I'd get so many reviews in 2 days! That's amazing!  
  
Wai! Finland! I represented them for the mock League of Nations at my high school! They invented the Sauna. ^.^ We were out of character though. We signed a peace treaty with the Russians, and that was out of character for 1914 Finland, so we lost some marks cause of it.  
  
That's just too cool. Anyone else live in Europe?  
  
Heero: -_- you better not tell her. She's crash over at your house when she goes to tour Europe after University.  
  
Bat: Nooo! Don't reveal my Master Plan!  
  
Heero: I thought you knew that Master Plans never work.  
  
Bat: All right, it's my Servant Plan then.  
  
Heero: ...  
  
Chapter 11 - Creo*  
  
Yami paced in front of Kaiba's office, almost crushing the small black disk in his hand.  
  
'What a horrible failure. What if Kaiba decided to terminate me for this?'  
  
The thought brought chills to Yami's spine. Why wouldn't Kaiba terminate him? After all, Kaiba didn't seem to mind getting rid of people. Yami was the one who killed all those associated with the Lacuna project. One by one, he got rid of the people whose names were listed on that black disk. It was frighteningly systematic.  
  
Kaiba had given him all the information he could possibly want about his victims. That black disk gave him not only their names, but also their annual income, their crime records, the names of everyone in their family...  
  
It was sickening.  
  
And that night, he was supposed to assassinate Mr Bakura.  
  
The poor man, according to the black disk, was one of Kaiba Corp's most productive workers. His only crime was receiving a certain 'Millennium Ring' and unwittingly letting one of the failed cyborgs, number 3223 stay at his house.  
  
Unlike all his previous victims, this man wasn't money, or power hungry. He hadn't stolen money from Kaiba Corp funds. He hadn't killed others, hadn't threatened anyone.  
  
Yami could force himself to kill without a second thought, but to kill an innocent man... one with a family, that was asking too much.  
  
The names on the list after Mr. Bakura were men and women that were equally without a tangible crime.  
  
'I cant do this. I cant be the god of death.'  
  
Everyone associated with the Lacuna Project are destined to die at his hand. Kaiba would let Yami walk through a sea of blood while keeping his own hands clean.  
  
And what about those amethyst eyes? Those same eyes that constantly haunted his dreams. Would he need to see those eyes close forever?  
  
The thought made his stomach churn.  
  
One of Kaiba's secretaries effectively brought him out of his reverie by telling him that Kaiba was willing to see him now.  
  
A sense of dread overwhelmed Yami.  
  
'Please, whatever gods that are out there... I don't want to kill anyone else. Please send me an angel to take me away from this hell.'  
  
Yami steeled himself and entered the office, sickened by the blood red carpets.  
  
Jounouchi was sitting in a chair across from Kaiba and was looking somewhat flushed. Yami raised a mental eyebrow. What were they doing before he entered the room?  
  
Kaiba cleared his throat. "Give your report."  
  
Yami scowled mentally but kept his face perfectly blank.  
  
"Mission a failure. The victim was not 'taken care of', and there were witnesses."  
  
Kaiba raised an eyebrow and Jou looked at him hopefully.  
  
"Did you let them get away?" Jou asked.  
  
Seto shot him a look that had 'shut up' written all over it.  
  
"I was faced with unforeseen difficulties. Bakura Ryou was home." Yami said as dispassionately as he could manage.  
  
Jou's eyes widened and he angrily slammed his fists into Kaiba's desk. "RYOU?! WHAT THE FUCK KAIBA, YOU TOLD ME YOU WERE GOING TO LEAVE MY FRIENDS ALONE!"  
  
Kaiba looked startled by Jou's anger, but with a deep breath, those ice blue eyes forced themselves away from Jou's pained face.  
  
"It was necessary. Continue Yami."  
  
Yami stared ahead, avoiding Jou's angry eyes. If he looked into them, chances were that he'd loose his nerve and break down.  
  
'But that would be suicidal. Kaiba will decide that he doesn't need a failure and get rid of me like all the others. I can't show any emotions. Even if I want to scream that I'm sorry, I cant. I don't want to be thrown away like a piece of scrap. I want to see those amethyst eyes again. I want to live.'  
  
Yami dispassionately began to recount what happened at Ryou's house, how Bakura had fought back, and how his sword had been abandoned in that bedroom. He carefully avoided narrating any of his personal emotions.  
  
Kaiba had an odd look on his face. It was as though he was happy that Yami had failed.  
  
'I'm so confused now...' Yami thought to himself with a groan. 'I can't figure this asshole out.'  
  
Jou looked ready to strangle Yami though. Yami smirked mentally. 'At least one of those two is predictable.'  
  
"Kaiba, you promised you wouldn't hurt Yugi!" Jou screamed out.  
  
Kaiba's half masked amusement gave way to a sigh as he rubbed his temples.  
  
"Yami, your assignment was a failure. I expect better results next time." Seto stated. Yami didn't miss the veiled hope in his voice.  
  
'What does he really want from me?' Yami thought as he gave Kaiba a curt nod.  
  
Yami swivelled around and stalked out of the office before Jou and Kaiba started arguing.  
  
Once in the safety of the empty hallway, Yami leaned his head against the wall and gave a small sigh of relief.  
  
"At least he didn't ask me to complete what I didn't finish. There's no way I could go back and try to hurt those people again." Yami murmured to himself.  
  
He pushed himself away from the wall and began to walk towards the labs.  
  
'But now I know what his name is.'  
  
He smiled softly to himself.  
  
'Yugi. Why do you haunt my dreams?'  
  
Yami looked at his right hand where the little black disk was embedded into his skin. He felt his heart sink as he looked at the little wires sticking out of his flesh that read the information on the disk.  
  
'You're not even human Yami. Stop dreaming.'  
  
* * * * * * *  
  
The blonde scientist grinned.  
  
"So. I guess you're not too happy about the modifications."  
  
Malik was laughing heartily Yugi and his grandfather tried to hold Ryou back. The white haired boy had already tried twice to kill Malik.  
  
"Ryou! Calm down! He's here to help!" Sugoroku cried out.  
  
Ryou broke free from their grasp and lunged towards Malik.  
  
Malik sidestepped at the last minute, causing Ryou to lose his balance and trip.  
  
With a growl, Ryou got up and glared at Malik.  
  
"Listen, I swear it was Ishtar that wanted me to do that to him. I'll fix everything if you just stop trying to kill me for a few minutes." Malik stated blandly.  
  
"Why should I believe you? You might only be here to mess him up more!" Ryou stated accusingly.  
  
Malik sighed and rubbed his scalp. "Listen. When Sugoroku asked me to come over here, he was asking me a personal favour. I wouldn't betray my friend's trust."  
  
"I know you have your doubts about Malik, but he's the only person who can help us Ryou." Sugoroku said mildly. Ryou ignored him and stalked up the stairs.  
  
Bakura was still sprawled on the floor of Yugi's room at the same place as before, save that his position had changed and he was now on his back.  
  
Ryou re-entered the room and sat down next to him. He sighed and stroked Bakura's soft hair gently, trying to ignore Bakura's open, unseeing eyes.  
  
Malik peered into the room and sat down next to Ryou.  
  
"You really care about him, don't you?" Malik asked gently.  
  
Ryou nodded.  
  
Malik smiled. "I can understand that."  
  
Ryou looked at him disbelievingly. "Can you really, or are you just saying that?"  
  
"I assure you I'm not lying. Ishtar and I are exactly like you and 'Bakura'. I care about him a lot, but he sometimes seems to resent me. I think its because I look so much like him, but I never had his problems."  
  
Ryou's eyes widened. "That's exactly how Bakura and I were before."  
  
"I'm not surprised. Ishtar and Bakura might hate each other, but they have a lot in common." Malik grinned.  
  
Ryou observed him calmly. Then he sighed. "Why did you do that to Bakura then? Can't you understand my pain?"  
  
"Yes." Malik murmured. "And I'm sorry. My double wanted revenge on his former partner, and I wanted to test my skills."  
  
Ryou smiled. "Well, I have to admit that your skills are pretty amazing. Bakura is flawless now."  
  
Malik frowned as he observed Bakura's damaged arm. "Not anymore. He was in a fight?"  
  
Ryou nodded. "He tried to stop Yami from killing my father."  
  
Malik's eyes widened. He observed the wound more closely. "It's a sword wound. The wires are severed rather neatly. When Yami did this, he could have easily sliced Bakura's arm off, but Bakura was fortunate enough not to be human. "  
  
Ryou shivered as Malik continued. "My colleagues have been falling like flies. Each of them was killed by a sword."  
  
"Why would Yami do that?" A small voice asked sadly.  
  
Malik and Ryou looked to the door to see Yugi leaning against the frame.  
  
Malik groaned inwardly. 'This wasn't in my job description. As a scientist, I'm supposed to follow orders, not worry about how my actions are going to affect other. I sure hope the Lacuna project is worth all this.'  
  
"Your Yami is doing all this because Kaiba programmed him to be an assassin. He's getting rid of everyone associated with the Lacuna project." Malik answered truthfully.  
  
"The Lacuna project?" Ryou murmured.  
  
"Yeah. Listen, I'm not allowed to tell you anything else, otherwise it's going to be MY pretty little neck under that blade."  
  
Yugi sat down next to Ryou. "Can't you at least tell me how you know my grandfather?"  
  
Malik began to fix Bakura's arm. "Sure. Your grandfather works for a branch of Kaiba Corp that does archaeological digs. Sugoroku finds the mummies, then he gives them to me."  
  
"And you clone them?" Ryou asked.  
  
"Sorta. You see, when people die, part of their DNA decomposes. The DNA that's still there is the DNA that says 'put two eyes here, a mouth there, two legs, two arms, etc.' The part that decomposes is what makes us who we are."  
  
"I don't get it." Yugi murmured.  
  
Malik groaned. "Ok, let me try again. When you die, the DNA that's left makes you human, but it doesn't say WHO you are. It doesn't say if you had black or white hair when you were alive, if you were short or tall, if you had brown or blue or even red eyes. That just disappears. Pouf! No more personality or individuality."  
  
Ryou nodded. "So what you're trying to say is that we can't clone someone who is dead."  
  
Malik nodded. "Exactly! And that's where H.E.L.L. steps in. Kaiba figured out a way to find that missing information."  
  
"And so you make clones of the corpses my grandfather gives you." Yugi murmured.  
  
"Yeah. It's not that simple though. It took us a long time to figure out how to get that missing information. Sleepy here," Malik motioned to the unmoving Bakura, "was clone number 3223. He was an accident, we didn't know what we did to create him."  
  
Malik clipped the tip of some of the wires from Bakura's arm and meticulously placed them back together.  
  
"Our next success was the pharaoh. Your Yami was perfect, but like Bakura, we had to put wires inside him to keep his body working."  
  
"Bakura once told me that there were more wires in his body then in the wall of a room." Ryou murmured absently.  
  
Malik nodded. "He wasn't exaggerating. I fixed that a little bit when I toyed with him, but he'll always have a bunch of metal inside him. Ishtar and Yami have the same problem. Even the Lacuna project still needs wires to sustain his body."  
  
Malik eyed the ring around Ryou's neck and the golden pyramid Yugi had placed on his dresser.  
  
"Those are the Millennium Items that were found in the pharaoh's tomb along with the corpses." Malik stated. "We 'downloaded' their memories from their previous life onto those things."  
  
"I know. Bakura got his memories back last time with this thing. I can understand why you took away their memories though. It can't be pleasant to remember your own death." Ryou murmured.  
  
Malik laughed good-naturedly. "Bakura is tough. He can handle it, just like Ishtar. I didn't take away any of HIS memories."  
  
He paused then scratched the back of his head. "Then again, that might have been a mistake."  
  
Yugi and Ryou looked at him with raised eyebrows, but said nothing.  
  
After a few moments of silence, Ryou looked at Malik gravely. "Why are you helping us?"  
  
Malik didn't look up from his work. There was no smile on his lips.  
  
'He looks really serious.' Yugi thought to himself.  
  
"Look, I agree that helping others isn't in character for me. But Sugoroku is pulling in a personal favour. I owe your grandfather a lot Yugi. Without him, I never would have found Ishtar... and Ishtar is all that's important for me."  
  
Ryou gave a friendly grin. "We know how you feel."  
  
Malik smiled back. "You should. After all, we have a very important point in common. We're the reincarnations of these cyborgs."  
  
He gave a small sigh as he cut an incision in Bakura's arm and pulled out a connector.  
  
"Look, after fixing the tomb raider over here, I cant do all that much for you. Kaiba messed up the pharaoh by himself, and I don't have the slightest clue what he did. But if you can somehow get him NOT to kill me, I'll try my best to fix him."  
  
Yugi nodded. "Thank you."  
  
Malik motioned for Ryou's Millennium Ring. "If you give me that ring, I'll give Bakura his memories back."  
  
Ryou stared for a moment then pulled the ring off from around his neck and handed it to Malik.  
  
"Both of the Millenium Items in one room must have caused him to short circuit. He died trying to get those things you know. It must feel a kind of love-hate towards those things, and the feelings must have been super deep to cause this kind of reaction." Malik offered.  
  
Malik connected the ring to the wire and got up, winking at Yugi and Ryou as he walked out the bedroom door.  
  
"I'm leaving. There's no way in hell I'm staying to get pummelled when he wakes up. Ja bye-bye!"  
  
Yugi got up did the same, giving Ryou a sly look. "I'm sure you two will have lots to talk about."  
  
"Sure, if he doesn't try to kill me!" Ryou shot back, his cheeks noticeably flushed. Yugi ignored his response and could be heard bounding down the stairs.  
  
Bakura's blank eye closed and reopened slowly to reveal a scowl.  
  
"What happened?" Bakura grunted weakly, attempting to sit up.  
  
Ryou quickly reached out to help him and was surprised to see that Bakura didn't swat his hands away, but rather took one of them and smirked.  
  
"I'll bet you have a few questions of your own?" He asked, grinning.  
  
Ryou was startled then smiled shyly. "I'm kind of wondering why you're not trying to kill me like last time."  
  
Bakura leaned so close to Ryou's face that Ryou couldn't help but shiver.  
  
"It just so happens that when I downloaded my memory from the ring the first time, I left a backup copy of my memory on the ring. That means that I remember everything about H.E.L.L. AND my previous life. I remember taking the ring from you and downloading my memories, but I cant remember what I did after that."  
  
"Oh." Ryou breathed, hypnotized by the unhidden affection he saw in Bakura's eyes.  
  
"But..." Bakura smirked.  
  
"But?" Ryou asked, urging Bakura to finish what he wanted to say. As long as he could concentrate on his words, he didn't have to think about their closeness.  
  
"But, I remember being a 'doll'. I remember everything that happened AFTER Malik whipped out my memories." Bakura grinned.  
  
"You mean..." Ryou flushed to a shade of crimson.  
  
Bakura remembered everything that happened since Ryou found him in that alley.  
  
Including the bath.  
  
And the 'don't leave me speech'.  
  
And the fight with Yami.  
  
And the little affectionate moments after that.  
  
Bakura laughed and took advantage of Ryou's bewilderment to crush his lips to his.  
  
"You're mine" Bakura whispered in between a kiss.  
  
* * * * * * * *  
  
*Create  
  
(Blush blush) Well, that was interesting to write.  
  
Heero: Don't act so modest. You read romance all the time.  
  
Bat: But it's not the same as WRITING it.  
  
Heero: Hn.  
  
Bat: Wow, I made Bakura rather sexy, didn't I? (grins)  
  
This is to thank everyone for those 20 some reviews! It's a rather long chapter isn't it? But all the explanations that Malik gives about the cyborgs are important. Or at least I think so. If you can guess what the Lacuna project is thanks to all those hints I've been trying to give, email me. ^.^ Don't say anything Ruby.  
  
Tell me if you like it. I'm aiming for 200 reviews within the next 2 chapters! I'd be thrilled if you even only wrote that you liked the story, so please don't be shy!  
  
REVIEW! 


	12. Vividarium

O.O Over 200 reviews. What the hell!? Not that I'm complaining, I think its great that you're all feeding my addiction. ^.^  
  
I was in Florida last week so I didn't have the chance to write anything... sorry about that. I was out getting sunburns. -____-, (and yet I'm still pasty white.)  
  
While I was there, I managed to watch all these shows on the Cartoon Network. We don't have any of the more adult animes here... or at least not in MY part of Canada! (grumbles) And of course, now I'm addicted to .hack//SIGN. Figures.  
  
Next mission: Get satellite.  
  
Heero: (snort) As if that would ever happen.  
  
Chapter 12- Vividarium*  
  
(*Garden. It's a random word that has nothing to do with the plotline. I'm running out of meaningful words, sorry. ^^)  
  
Yami sat on the bed in his dark room, turning the little black disk over and over in his hand. Kaiba hadn't asked him to go out on another mission since his previous failure, and Yami was starting to become apprehensive.  
  
"Exactly what is he thinking? What's his next move?" Yami muttered.  
  
"He's going to finish the game soon Pharaoh." A voice at his door answered his question mockingly.  
  
Yami looked up sharply to find a look-alike of the blonde scientist Malik. He knew well enough that this was the scientist's personal creation, Ishtar.  
  
Yami also knew that Ishtar had been roaming around HELL for the last few days. It was obvious to anyone that he and Kaiba were plotting something. Perhaps together, perhaps individually. It didn't matter.  
  
There was nothing that Yami hated worse then being a pawn.  
  
Swaying his hips with mock seduction, Ishtar entered the room uninvited and sat down on Yami's cot. The springs groaned at the weight, Ishtar to permit himself as small smirk.  
  
"Malik may be a fool, but at least I'm not living in these pitiful conditions. They times really have changed, haven't they, pharaoh?"  
  
At Ishtar's cruel smirk, Yami looked away, pretending the comment was unheard.  
  
"And not only that, I hear from reliable sources that your victims are coming HERE! Talk about luck! Looks like you'll be able to finish your mission after all!" Ishtar purred.  
  
Yami's head snapped towards him at that comment, dread making his heart sink. "What?"  
  
"Oh, Malik just told me that my former partner is coming to kill me for fixing his ugly face, and he's bringing his friends along for the ride! Isn't that wonderful?" Ishtar clapped his hands together happily. Behind the false smile, his eyes glinted like steel.  
  
Yami's lips curled into a snarl. 'He's playing with me.'  
  
"Get your ass out of here then. I'm not taking a bullet for you." Yami growled.  
  
Ishtar snorted. "Oh! My partner would never use a gun! He'd be too afraid that the bullet would kill me. He prefers using his own hands, but you know what? I think he has a fetish for sharp objects, so he might bring a knife, I'd be careful for that."  
  
Yami repressed the annoyance he felt and got off the bed. 'He's playing with me. I have to remember that. I have to play his game... even if there's no hope that I'll win, I have to play the game.'  
  
"I'll remember that. But if I were you, I'd watch out for his punches. Malik wont want you anymore if your face is ruined." Yami replied offhandedly.  
  
Yami watched as Ishtar's face fell. For a second, Yami could see how vulnerable he was on the subject of the blonde scientist. 'Looks like he has some doubts about Malik's loyalty. I ought to use that.'  
  
Ishtar flushed. "He would fix me."  
  
Yami smirked to himself. 'Looks like I really did hit a soft spot.'  
  
"Really? Oh, that's right! He's a scientist! So that means he'll be able to shut you off when he gets bored with you."  
  
Ishtar looked as if he was ready to kill something. He was seething with anger... and whether this anger was directed at him or Malik, it didn't matter as long as Yami was still in control of the situation.  
  
'Looks like the game has shifted in my favour.' Yami allowed a smirk to show on his emotionless face.  
  
"He wont leave me!" Ishtar shot back, but the words lacked conviction.  
  
"Really?"  
  
"Yes! I'm not a plaything he will get bored of!" Ishtar hissed  
  
" *I* never said you were a plaything."  
  
Smiling darkly as he left the room, Yami crushed the black disk in his hand and walked off, leaving the shards on the floor.  
  
Ishtar stepped up to the doorframe and watched Yami walk away with unmasked hatred.  
  
* * * * * * * *  
  
Yami walked down the hall, putting as much space between Ishtar and himself as possible.  
  
'I better be more careful though. Ishtar is a dangerous enemy to have.'  
  
An explosion suddenly shook the building.  
  
Malik ran out of his office and collided head on with Yami.  
  
"That idiot! What is it with that damn tomb raider and explosions!" Malik cried out as he got up off Yami and brushed the debris off his clothing.  
  
"I need to got make sure the Lacuna project isn't damaged, otherwise I wont get my pay check!"  
  
Malik was about to scramble off but a strong hand suddenly gripped his collar and pulled him back.  
  
"Oh no dear MASTER. You need to stay and watch your creations act out the last scene of this play." Ishtar said with thinly veiled bitterness.  
  
Malik stopped struggling and looked at him quizzically.  
  
"Are you ok Ishtar? Did I do something that upset you again?" Malik asked softly as another explosion shook the floor. Ishtar's doubts and bitterness suddenly seemed to melt away as his eyes softened at Malik's concern.  
  
"Don't ever leave me or else I'll hunt you down." Ishtar leaned forward and breathed into Malik's ear. Malik shivered and nodded his consent. Ishtar smiled and he soundlessly brought Malik into his arms, kissing him fiercely.  
  
Yami turned away in disgust.  
  
Malik reluctantly broke the kiss off at the sound of the fire alarm. Gasping for breath, he muttered something about unoriginal tomb raiders.  
  
Walking ahead arrogantly, Ishtar graced Yami with a cocky grin. "You were just jealous."  
  
Yami rolled his eyes and sighed. "Whatever you say."  
  
Yami broke into a run, paying little heed to the falling debris. The scene felt eerily familiar, but he couldn't place where he had seen this before.  
  
The alarms were blaring by now and the shrill voice on the intercom demanding that everyone remain calm.  
  
This, of course, had no effect whatsoever on the hysterical scientists.  
  
They were running frantically, most in the opposite direction that the voice advised. For the second time this month had to grab their life's work and run for their lives.  
  
Malik was certain he heard one of the underlings complain that there had to be a safer line of work. He suppressed a chuckle.  
  
'This is simply one of the perks of working for HELL.' Malik smiled to himself. 'I hope Kaiba finds someone else to fix the damages this time though.'  
  
Malik glanced ahead at Ishtar and smiled at the view.  
  
'All the trouble was worth it though. Ishtar may not like Bakura, but I feel otherwise. Bakura's a good friend, no matter how extreme his personality is. (I'm not one to talk though...) I'm sure that if they beat each other up enough they'll be friends again.'  
  
(AN: Talk about twisted logic... ^_^;;;;)  
  
His smile broadened when he saw Kaiba racing down the halls to the source of the explosion, followed closely behind by his ever-faithful canine companion.  
  
'Bakura may not be original, but if his explosions are enough to bring the CEO of Kaiba Corp out of hiding, then who's complaining?'  
  
At the end of the red-lit hallway, Bakura stood with his arms crossed, a smirk pulling at his lips. Behind him, Yugi and Ryou stood, their figures taunt with determination. Both boys had golden pendants hanging around their necks.  
  
"Pulling the same tricks again number 3223? Is your imagination beginning to malfunction?" Kaiba spoke out over the siren.  
  
"My imagination is working just fine. As a matter a fact, I think you'll find the ways I'll inflict pain on you very creative." Bakura sneered.  
  
Ishtar's smile broadened at the sight of his former partner. Cracking his knuckles, he stepped forward.  
  
"It was clever of you to set up those explosions so that they frightened away all the workers. And I'm sure you knew I would recognize it as your signature move, right?"  
  
"Ah. So you really do remember." Bakura remarked.  
  
Malik looked from one to the other in confusion. "Wait a minute, you were just a decapitated head the last time he did this!"  
  
"I was."  
  
"So how did you know that he did this before?" asked, confused.  
  
"I didn't know that he did it here, in this lifetime, but it doesn't surprise me that he'd pull same old trick again. I guess that habits remain even when the memory is gone."  
  
At Malik's blank and uncomprehending look, Ishtar sighed.  
  
"You know that we used to rob tombs together, right?" Ishtar asked Malik patiently.  
  
Yami raised and eyebrow.  
  
At Malik's nod, Ishtar continued, "Well, there always guards watching the tombs to make sure no one like us got in. Bakura would distract them by making a section of another tomb nearby collapse while I stole the treasure. Simple, but it worked more often then not."  
  
"Your story is flawed. There wasn't any gunpowder back then. Also, where the hell did you get the equipment to blow up MY building?" Kaiba asked angrily.  
  
Bakura smiled and waved his hand condescendingly. "He never said we blew the temple up, he said we made it collapse. For both cases, I can assure you that there are people from the 'inside' who are willing to help."  
  
"Architects are nice people you know. They don't discriminate. It doesn't matter to them if you're the pharaoh or a tomb raider as long as you pay them. And I can assure you that temple plans stating where the main pillars are located really helpful. Telling you any more then that would be giving away tools of the trade." Ishtar gloated.  
  
Bakura nodded in agreement.  
  
Ryou, Yugi, Malik, Kaiba and Jounouchi looked at the two former raiders in dumbly. Yami just stood there, thoroughly amused.  
  
"Are you two friends again?" Yugi asked. Almost everyone held their breath waiting for the answer.  
  
"Hell no! I'm gonna kill him for letting me rot in that tomb!" Bakura snarled, cracking his knuckles.  
  
Ishtar clutched his hand into a fist. "Bring it on!"  
  
There was a collective sight of relief.  
  
"Oh good, I was afraid that you had changed sides." Yugi murmured.  
  
"I was worried that I was going to miss out on watching you two fight again, I so sorry I doubted both your aggressive natures." Malik smiled happily.  
  
Jou glared at him. "I can't believe I let a nutcase like you operate on my sister's eyes!"  
  
Malik sighed. "Idiot, when there's a problem with the eye, you need to perform brain surgery. It was her head I played with, not her eyes."  
  
"WHAT?!"  
  
Jou sputtered and pointed an accusatory finger at Malik while yelling at Seto who simply groaned at his lover's stupidity.  
  
"You let HIM play brain surgeon using MY SISTER?!"  
  
"Has there's been any problems?" Malik ask worriedly.  
  
"No, no, she's just fine she took off the bandages a few days ago and... WAIT A MINUTE! Stop acting like a doctor!"  
  
Seto rubbed his temples as Bakura and Ishtar watched the argument with interest.  
  
Ryou and Yugi just stood there dumbfounded.  
  
Yami just sighed.  
  
"Aren't you two supposed to be killing each other now?" he asked Bakura and Ishtar.  
  
The two former raiders glanced at each other and both rolled their eyes at the former pharaoh.  
  
"He's still the arrogant bastard he was before. I was rather glad when they announced that he had kicked the bucket." Ishtar mused.  
  
Yami glared at him.  
  
"I was really looking forward to erasing his name from the cartouches so that his spirit couldn't come back, but I just HAD to be killed before I even reached the tomb!" Bakura growled.  
  
"It wasn't my fucking fault that you made the column fall ahead of time!" Ishtar growled.  
  
Something inside of Bakura snapped at that comment. He let his anger take over and slammed his fist into Ishtar's face.  
  
"I didn't make that damn column fall, you did! And you didn't come get me!" Bakura was about to land another punch when Ishtar retaliated.  
  
"If you couldn't get your clumsy ass out of there yourself then you weren't worth it!" Ishtar landed a hit to Bakura's gut and didn't hesitate to kick his face when he keeled over.  
  
Avoiding his leg, Bakura sent Ishtar a flurry of angry punches.  
  
"My fucking leg was stuck! I know you planned it out so that you could keep all the treasure!"  
  
"I did NOT! The guards didn't even head your way, they came and caught ME!" Ishtar grunted with satisfaction when he heard the dry crack of a broken rib.  
  
"That's impossible! Why wouldn't they have come to where I was?" Bakura's pain only served to fuel his anger.  
  
"How should I know? They killed me, they didn't answer any questions." Bitterness laced Ishtar's voice.  
  
"Fuck that! Even with all the noise, they didn't come to where I was and I starved to death! It's impossible that they didn't know the tomb had collapsed! They should have come to where I was, not go after you!"  
  
"But they did, and it's your fault that I was killed by some second-rate tomb guard! They should have gone after you, not me!" Ishtar cried out. Another punch nearly knocked him off balance.  
  
"I agree! Why the fuck didn't they?!" Bakura snarled.  
  
"It's almost as if..." Ishtar murmured, realization dawning on him.  
  
"As if ... we were set up?" Bakura murmured.  
  
"But by who?" Ishtar said, stepping back a little.  
  
Bakura wiped what looked like blood from his mouth. "Who else knew our plan?"  
  
"Rather, who's smart enough to figure out our tactics and powerful enough to tell those bumbling guards what to do?" Ishtar asked.  
  
"Seth."  
  
The name brought a sour taste to Bakura's mouth, and Ishtar's lips curled into an ironic smile.  
  
"Strange how he was always two steps ahead of us..."  
  
He turned to look at Kaiba with hate filled eyes. "... even in this lifetime."  
  
Kaiba raised an eyebrow. This was an interesting turn of events. They really remembered everything about their previous lives?  
  
"That damned high priest... I should have known." Bakura glared at Kaiba.  
  
"I say we put aside our differences and have a little fun. What do you say?"  
  
Bakura answered Ishtar with a malicious smile.  
  
Malik smiled happily. "I knew they'd work things out."  
  
Kaiba looked at them in amusement. Jou had placed himself in front of Kaiba protectively.  
  
Yami knew what he had to do when Kaiba gave him a slight nod.  
  
At once, both Ishtar and Bakura were flung back by Yami, their mutually inflicted injuries weakening them.  
  
Kaiba smirked. "Kill them Yami."  
  
Yami hesitated. It would be so easy... they were both exhausted from fighting each other.  
  
But what would their deaths bring? Only more unhappiness.  
  
And those amethyst eyes... they were so scared right now. Was he really able to watch Yugi cry?  
  
'No...'  
  
"What are you waiting for Yami? Kill them." Kaiba urged, but there was something strangely hopeful about his voice.  
  
Again. Just like that other time, in his office.  
  
'I cant.'  
  
He couldn't be the cause of Yugi's unhappiness.  
  
"Kill them." The command was becoming more hopeful at Yami's hesitation.  
  
'I wont.'  
  
He would protect Yugi, no matter what, even from himself.  
  
"Do it now!" Kaiba ordered.  
  
"No."  
  
The answer was so soft that Kaiba barely heard it.  
  
"What?"  
  
"I said no. I wont." Yami murmured.  
  
Yugi's eyes were so bright that it almost hurt Yami to look at them. 'Don't worry Yugi, I'll do the right thing.'  
  
"And why not?"  
  
It was supposed to sound indignant, but at this point, Kaiba couldn't continue his charade. He was elated! The reprogramming hadn't worked! Exactly like Malik claimed it wouldn't.  
  
"Because it would upset Yugi," was Yami's simple answer.  
  
Kaiba grinned. "Really?"  
  
"Yeah."  
  
Yugi flung himself into a startled Yami's arms and started to cry tears of joy. The pharaoh looked shocked but his normally cold eyes softened. With a murmur of reassurance, Yami embraced Yugi lovingly.  
  
Ryou and Malik were next to their injured counterparts and let out an envious sigh.  
  
Ishtar and Bakura were too confused to do anything but stare.  
  
Jou was beginning to be scared. Seto never smiled. Right?  
  
"I didn't believe you when you said that the robots kept their personalities no matter what Malik, but I'm glad you were right."  
  
Malik grinned. "That's right. So you don't need to worry. The Lacuna Project will still be the same person he was before he died, and no one can change that."  
  
Kaiba wasn't smiling as broadly as before, but his lips were unmistakably curved upwards.  
  
"What's going on Seto?" Jou asked, confused out of his mind.  
  
"If those two over there," he gestured to Ishtar and Bakura, "don't try anything, I'll show you all my secret. My Lacuna project."  
  
* * * * * * * * *  
  
^____^ Yay! Almost done!  
  
I'm sorry; I know it must have been really confusing reading this. Heck, I was confusing myself! I guess I should clear up a few points by giving you the history of what happened to Bakura and Ishtar in ancient Egypt. If you read this and then reread the argument, you'll probably understand better:  
  
* * *  
  
Bakura and Ishtar were about to rob Yami's tomb with their old 'distract and then steal' routine, but Seth (Seto) knew all about it thanks to the architect that double-crossed THEM too.  
  
It didn't help our friendly neighbourhood tomb raiders that Seth knew who Ishtar was (since Ishtar was a low ranking priest) and had ordered a spy to watch him.  
  
So Kaiba knew which room they wanted to get to. (Yami's tomb)  
  
He ordered the guards to weaken a column so that it would collapse if someone would so much as breathe on it. He then told them to ignore the column when it collapsed.  
  
Unfortunately for Bakura, Seth simply forgot about him (priestly duties, you know) and no one went to get Bakura to put him in jail. Bakura starved to death thinking that Ishtar had abandoned him.  
  
Ishtar was surprised to hear the room Bakura was in collapse so much ahead of schedule, and wasn't prepared to face the temple guards that attacked him. They killed him and threw his body in an empty chamber near Yami's since they didn't want to have to carry the bloody body too far. (It was almost lunchtime and they had... a more important matter to deal with. Their stomachs.)  
  
Strangely enough, a few days later there was an earthquake and the entrance to the tomb was lost. Seth guessed it was wiser to not look for the tomb so that the pharaoh Yami could rest in peace until his soul returned to his body...  
  
* * *  
  
^__^ That's it for now! I hope it was worth the wait. This story should be done in two chapters.  
  
(Grins) I'm going to be REALLY greedy now and hope for 300 reviews by the epilogue. I don't think I'll get that many, but hey, I never would have thought I would get over 200 reviews! So I'm gonna hope that I get hit by a bolt of lightening and suddenly become a literary genius, cause everyone needs to like the next 2 chapters A LOT if that's ever going to happen. ^^;  
  
So review! Please? 


	13. Absolutio

Hey people! Sorry for my long absence, I hope you guys aren't too upset about my impromptu sabbatical.  
  
^^ Congratulations Shadow Music! I think you're the only one that had my whole plot figured out. (Dances around with pom-poms and confetti)  
  
For all my reviewers that aren't too big on yaoi, my message is: Oops? ^^; I hope you guys don't mind too much. I like a bit of everything in the stories I read, especially romance, so that tends to translate to my writing. Also, I can't stomach angst. That's why if you look hard enough, you can see my twisted sense of humor in this story. Those parts in the story you guys cant understand, well, they're probably jokes. Half the time I don't get it either, so I guess the joke's on me. ;__;  
  
;___; I'm hooked on Full Moon wo Sagashite right now... Takuto is just too cool. I want a Shinigami like him! Little did I know when I started watching it that it would be such a deep story. I'm kinda bummed that there aren't more FMWS fics out there... I guess I'll have to remedy that one day, ne? ^__~  
  
For those who don't remember:  
  
852501 - Yami 3223 - Bakura  
  
Chapter 13 - Absolutio*  
  
*an acquittal, freedom, unloosing/ entirety, perfection  
  
* * * * * *  
  
"Life, death... it's the same thing unless we touch someone's life, isn't it?" Kaiba murmured softly as he approached a discrete door. Yugi's hand reflexively tightened around Yami's, causing the former pharaoh to smile.  
  
'Its true... I never felt alive until I met Yugi. Even when I was told I was a perfect creation, that I was the most human creature in H.E.L.L., I didn't feel real.' Yami turned his gaze to look at the others.  
  
Ryou was timidly clinging on to Bakura, while the tomb raider wore a rare expression. Bakura appeared to be his usual cocky self, but underneath the surface, there was an incredibly obvious tenderness. He would glance at Ryou with such fierce protectiveness, that only a fool wouldn't notice it. Ryou, on the other hand, would sometimes look up and meet this gaze with a soft smile.  
  
Malik and Ishtar had stayed behind, Malik assuring Kaiba that he would come later. When the group left, Ishtar was patiently listening to Malik's non- committed scolding. However, as soon as Kaiba was out of range, the bickering stopped. Yami didn't even need to guess what they were doing. Probably making up.  
  
As for Jou... Yami avoided looking at him. There was something about his optimistic attitude that annoyed Yami.  
  
"How can you be under Kaiba's thumb and still be happy?" Yami muttered. Yugi heard and followed Yami's gaze back to Jou who was talking happily to Kaiba.  
  
"Because he's not. To some extent, I think they are equals and Jou just acts like Kaiba has the upper hand so that Kaiba doesn't lose face." Yugi murmured back.  
  
Yami didn't say anything. His light was probably right.  
  
But after being exploited by Kaiba, it was hard to simply change perspectives on him all at once. Yami had to admit that Kaiba wasn't the all-powerful evil overlord that he had once thought him to be, but he wasn't a saint either. Kaiba Seto was human.  
  
Maybe that's why Yami resented him so much.  
  
And there wasn't any clear line with him like there was with Yugi. With Yugi, Yami could plainly tell good from evil apart, but with Kaiba, everything was more gray then black. But then again, Yugi wasn't human... he was an angel.  
  
Kaiba turned to face them and smiled so kindly that Yami had to look away.  
  
"Please, come in, all of you." Kaiba murmured.  
  
As soon as Kaiba set foot in the oddly homely room, an energetic looking child tackled him. Kaiba smiled warmly as the black-haired youth began talking about the events of the day, then allowed himself to be dragged into the room.  
  
"O-nii-sama, who are these people? Are they here to play with me too?" the boy smiled brightly at the group, who shifted awkwardly.  
  
"Yes Mokuba, they'll play with you after we talk for a while, ok?" Kaiba answered gently.  
  
Mokuba made a face as he let go of Kaiba's arm, "You promised that you'd play with me today. You've been busy all week."  
  
Kaiba sighed and ran a hand through his hair, yet Yami understood that Kaiba probably would rather play with Mokuba then talk to them.  
  
"I need to explain a few things to these people first Mokuba."  
  
Mokuba glanced at them as he evaluated his brother's words. "You'll come play with me after?"  
  
At Kaiba's nod, the black-haired boy smiled, bowed politely to the group and went off to another corner to continue playing his video game.  
  
Bakura plopped down on the couch that was next to him and sighed.  
  
"So when are you going to show us this illustrious Lacuna Project?" Bakura shot at Kaiba who suppressed a smile.  
  
"What are you grinning about, you psycho?! You keep ranting about this damn project, and how brilliant you are... I expect some explanations. Not that I don't like being alive and all, but who fucking made you god, eh? What could possibly be so important that you were given carte blanche to make my life, as well as the pharaoh's, hell?" Bakura snarled.  
  
Ryou quietly sat down next to him and leaned against his shoulder. Bakura relaxed almost automatically.  
  
Yami rolled his eyes. "Idiot."  
  
Bakura's head snapped to his direction. "Care to say that again?"  
  
Yami sneered and folded his arms. "I called you an idiot. Cant you figure a simple puzzle out?"  
  
Ryou's head against his shoulder was the only reason that Bakura didn't jump up and hit Yami right then. Instead, he took a deep breath.  
  
Cocking his head to the side, Bakura lips twitched slightly. "And to think I was thinking about your position in this mess you arrogant bastard. And solving a stupid puzzle doesn't answer my questions. Take out that stick that's up your ass and start talking like a normal person instead of in riddles."  
  
Ryou gave Bakura a disapproving gaze. "There's a child here Bakura. Keep vulgarities to a minimum."  
  
Bakura grumbled and crossed his arms, annoyance clearly defined by his scowl. His snow-white hair was tossed over his shoulder as he shot a snort that sounded horribly like a growl in Yami's direction.  
  
Yugi clung to Yami's leather clad arm, terribly aware of how tense Yami's muscles were. Yugi tugged gently at his sleeve to get his attention.  
  
"Yami, I don't think Kaiba wants Mokuba to know." Yugi murmured.  
  
Kaiba glanced in Mokuba's direction and noted that Mokuba was too absorbed in his game to pay any attention to them.  
  
"We're waiting for Malik right now, so we'll be waiting here until he decides to show his face. Until then, both of you fools should shut up and be civil. Yugi's guess is right, I don't want Mokuba knowing about the project." Kaiba shot a meaningful glare at Bakura and Yami.  
  
Yami smirked mentally. 'Now this is better. I don't know what I would have done if Kaiba kept being so damn nice.'  
  
Bakura on the other hand, sputtered and leaned forward, gripping the arm of the couch murderously.  
  
"Now you listen here Kaiba, I'm not one of your underlings, and I wont take your shit. I want some answers, and I want them now!"  
  
Malik chose this moment to step in the door, his insanely happy smile dropping as he noticed Bakura's murderous expression. He swiftly turned around and was about to run away when Ishtar caught him by the collar, causing Malik to let out a little yip.  
  
"Oh no you don't beautiful. You're going to sit down and explain to these lovely people what's going on." Ishtar laughed.  
  
Malik pouted. "Kaiba started it. He should explain. Why do I have to do all the dirty work?"  
  
Kaiba just rolled his eyes. Mokuba dropped his video game again and walked over to the blond scientist and the tanned Egyptian.  
  
Ishtar greeted the boy by ruffling his hair to Mokuba submitted with a resigned expression.  
  
"You guys aren't here for more tests are you?" Mokuba asked almost wearily.  
  
Ishtar smiled and shook his head. Malik looked away with a scowl, obviously annoyed by Ishtar's earlier reprimand as well as his display of affection towards the younger boy.  
  
"No, not today. Actually, Malik and I will take care of these annoying people, so you can have your brother back for the afternoon, how does that sound?" Ishtar asked gently. The jealous frown on Malik's face only deepened at Ishtar's soft tones.  
  
Mokuba expression, on the other hand, brightened considerably. "Thank you Ishtar-nii-san! I'll see you guys later on tonight though, right?"  
  
Ishtar once again ruffled Mokuba's hair playfully as he nodded.  
  
Kaiba approached and Mokuba immediately latched on to his arm, dragging him away. Kaiba managed to turn around, shooting Ishtar and unmistakable glare. Ishtar just smirked.  
  
"Hear that Kaiba? I've been promoted to 'nii-san'." Ishtar winked mockingly at Kaiba, whose eye twitched in restrained annoyance.  
  
Malik, regardless of his jealousy couldn't help but look at Kaiba's expression and break into a grin.  
  
He shot a look at Jou and nodded briefly to Ishtar, as if he was setting a plan into motion.  
  
"Well boys, lets leave the Kaiba brothers to themselves. If you'd just follow me, my SMALL office is at the end of the hall. Unfortunately, I'm still waiting for the bigger office that I was PROMISED with my promotion. But SOMEONE at the upper level of the company hasn't seemed to have gotten around to it yet."  
  
Kaiba simply glared at Malik, a twitch marring his icy features. "I get your point. Leave."  
  
"I want a couch in my new office."  
  
Twitch.  
  
"And maybe a fridge. Yes, I'd like a fridge."  
  
"GET OUT!" Kaiba yelled. The others cautiously made their way outside the room, fighting back a smile. There was no use in aggravating Kaiba more then Malik was at the moment. Malik on the other hand, wasn't backing down.  
  
"I got the Lacuna project finished on time, and I even fixed all the mistakes my predecessors made on the prototypes. Without me, those idiots probably never would have figured out how they made 852501, much less duplicated the results. Now, I got a pay raise for fixing the mess 3223 made when he blew everything up, but I still have the same office as when I was monitoring 852501. Some people like ADVANCEMENT when they work in a company Kaiba! I'm not asking for world domination here, just a bigger office! Some of us don't like working in a box!"  
  
"Don't think you're not expendable. I know very well that you were involved with 3223's little escapade. Be grateful I didn't take that out of your paycheck! Hell, be grateful I didn't get 852501 to eliminate you like I did for all my other nosy employees." Kaiba growled.  
  
"I ask for a bigger office and I get death threats!" Malik screamed.  
  
"OUT!" Kaiba slammed the door shut, leaving Ishtar only a fraction of a second to pull Malik out of the room. Mokuba gave a lopsided grin and a small wave as the door closed.  
  
Ishtar snickered. "I think you softened him up a little."  
  
Malik smirked. "If I'm lucky, I'll have that fridge by the end of the week."  
  
Jou rolled his eyes as the rest of the group followed Malik to his box. "Seto is going to kill you."  
  
"No he wont, he'll give me a bigger office."  
  
Ryou gave Bakura a puzzled look. "I don't understand what's going on."  
  
Bakura smirked. "Malik doesn't do anything unless there's money involved. What did you two bet on?"  
  
Malik smirked while and Jou flushed guiltily and stammered. "Uh..."  
  
Ishtar laughed. "Jou and Malik had an argument yesterday concerning the best method to get a promotion."  
  
Bakura's eyebrows arched. "Really? So, Malik claimed that the best way to get a promotion is by being a pain in the ass?"  
  
Malik gave an indignant snort. "No, by acting the way Kaiba does."  
  
Ishtar snickered. "Touché."  
  
Even Yami, who had been listening to the exchange in an uninterested manner had to crack a grin. Jou, on the other hand, seemed to be trying to get out of this situation, and fast.  
  
"Jounouchi-kun, what did you say the best way to get a promotion was?" Yugi's question was innocent enough, but Jou flushed to a deep shade of red.  
  
Malik and Ishtar shared conspiratory glances, and they turned to Bakura and gave him a meaningful look. Bakura was about to growl at them for staring at him in such and annoying manner when realization dawned on him. 'Oh shit! Jou said that the best way to get a promotion is by getting in Kaiba's pants?!'  
  
His head snapped to Jou's direction, and the deepening blush on the blond's face confirmed his suspicions.  
  
Ryou looked at the exchange quizzically. "Well, how did Jou claim he would get a promotion?"  
  
Bakura looked horribly torn. Every nerve in his body was telling him to embarrass the hell out of the blond by making a lewd comment, to make him squirm, to ENJOY watching him squirm... but then when he glanced down at Ryou's innocent eyes, he realized that that it would embarrass his gentle hikari too... so with a great amount of willpower, he snapped his jaw shut.  
  
'Damn conscience.' He thought to himself. 'Damn it for ruining my fun.'  
  
"Well? Bakura? How come no one will say what Jou's method is?" Ryou asked.  
  
Ishtar grinned evilly. "It has to do with a bed. Maybe not even."  
  
Malik's face contorted in disgust. "Please, don't speculate."  
  
Yami's eyebrows shot up to his hairline as realization finally dawned on him too.  
  
"What does a bed have to do with the bet?" Yugi asked tugging on Yami's leather sleeve. Yami flushed to a deep shade of red.  
  
"Well..." Ishtar started, but was immediately smacked upside the head by Bakura.  
  
"What the $%&*!" Ishtar yelled. "What was that for!?"  
  
"Shut up, just shut up!" Bakura barked back.  
  
Ryou and Yugi continued asking questions all the way to Malik's office while Yami and Bakura took turns beating Ishtar whenever the blond Egyptian would hint to the two human boys about Jou's sleeping habits, and what they had to do with Kaiba.  
  
Unfortunately, due to having already experienced death, Yami and Bakura's death threats seemed to have little or no effect on the tanned Egyptian.  
  
* * * * *  
  
That's it for now... can you guys finally guess what the Lacuna project is, or are you as clueless as Bakura? ^.^  
  
I hope the bet part at least made you crack a smile... I was trying to add some humor in before all the explanations, but I have the feeling that I failed miserably.. *sigh* its 3 in the morning, my faculties are somewhat inhibited. That, and my sense of humor reeks of the gutter.  
  
Hope you guys liked it! Review? 


	14. Explicat

Hello, hello! I'm back from the land of the dead and come bearing gifts.  
  
I had an interesting six months in which I was completely unproductive. I blame it on sheer laziness, though I can assure you that its not my only excuse. I worked at a Girl Guide camp up north where I slept in tents and was with the kids 24/7. Needless to say, by the end of it, I was drained.  
  
Elementary school teachers deserve much more credit then they receive for not killing the kids in their care. Many of them deserve to die. Especially the ones that threaten to sue you. I DON'T OWN ANYTHING I SAY!  
  
All this to say, I've had a great time writing this story. Thank you so much for all the reviews. Unless you're an author, you don't understand how much of an ego boost they are. Though many may claim that my ego need not increase, I beg to differ. I'm not arrogant, merely cocky. There's a difference. ^.^ I don't need a Big Head Girl badge yet, Weasley twins!  
  
Many of you have successfully guessed what the Lacuna Project is, and for that, you deserve a pat on the back. I'd personally like to give you one, especially if you live in Europe of down South. ^.^ Its starting to get cold up here.  
  
Lacuna 14 - Explicat  
  
*develop the meaning of an idea, explain (especially in a literary text)  
  
Malik smirked as he surveyed the faces gazing up at him.  
  
Bakura's expression promised a gruesome death if his questions weren't explained to his liking. He had that all familiar scowl on his face . 'Flawless face.' Malik amended.  
  
Flawless thanks to his genius of course. None of the other scientist working at HELL could possibly upgraded 3223 in not only a minute amount of time, but in their own private lab. 'Yes', Malik thought, 'I really am brilliant. Screw the other scientists. I'm NOT expendable, and Kaiba knows it.'  
  
Malik turned his gaze to Ishtar, who also looked ready to kill. 'Probably pissed off that I was staring at 3223.' He guessed.  
  
Malik shot a smile at Ishtar, and the blond Egyptian's icy countenance melted.  
  
Of course Ishtar was a thousand times more perfect then the tomb raider. After all, it was only his own hands that had made him. It was his hands that had given that mummified head another chance at life. His heart that had been put on the line during those endless nights, working with metal and wires, his faith tried when those ice blue eyes had opened again for the first time on over 3 000 years. How could Ishtar be anything less then the white-haired tomb raider?  
  
But then again, Bakura WAS hot.  
  
Malik smirked to himself as he looked at Ryou, who was sitting next to Bakura. Bakura had eyes for no one other then Ryou, and that was a certainty. Malik remembered the way Bakura was at the beginning... violent, resentful and full of hate. Bakura was ready to kill or be killed. But now, though the exterior was still gruff, beneath the surface there was an unmistakable tenderness.  
  
Though Malik wasn't about to test that theory. Bakura was completely capable of kicking a friend's ass.  
  
When his eyes met with the Pharaoh's a crimson glare greeted him. So, the pharaoh was still pissed off about things he couldn't remember?  
  
'People really don't change.' Malik decided. 'They only adapt to different circumstances.'  
  
It was a rather 'Lord of the Flies' approach to human nature, and could probably be debated, but he had other faces to look at. Besides, he wasn't a scholar, or a philosopher. He was a slightly deranged individual who loved a clone and money.  
  
Malik gave the pharaoh a light grin, at which the frown only deepened.  
  
'I guess he doesn't know that I promised Yugi I'd fix him. Ah well, no harm in keeping the pharaoh on his toes.'  
  
Speaking of Yugi...  
  
The tiny boy had Yami looming over him like a shadow. Malik had to admit that the kid was cute, but really, what was so great about him that the pharaoh would refuse to do what he was programmed to do?  
  
'I'm not complaining about the cyborgs keeping their personality, that's what I was trying to prove to Kaiba would happen. But what makes us, their reincarnations, so special? Why do we have such strong feelings for us and vice-versa?'  
  
So many deep and philosophical questions. Additions to these questions are:  
  
'Why aren't I getting paid more? Why is Kaiba such a bastard?'  
  
Life's little mysteries.  
  
Malik didn't even look at Jou. He wanted to see the sweet expression a loser sports after losing a bet on that boy's face. Ah yes, success would be sweet.  
  
Malik cleared his throat.  
  
"Just get on with it damn it, you've been staring at us for the past ten minutes!" Bakura snarled.  
  
Malik cleared his throat again.  
  
"Fuck it Blondie, GET ON WITH IT!" Bakura yelled, teeth bared.  
  
"SHUT UP!" Yami and Ishtar yelled at the former tomb raider who just turned to snarl at them instead.  
  
Malik massaged his temples. 'Forget philosophy. They're all idiots about as deep as a puddle.'  
  
Malik successfully ignored them.  
  
"Well, as you all know, HELL has been making clones--" He began.  
  
"No shit." Bakura grumbled.  
  
"-in order to create the Lacuna project. The ringleader of this little operation is Seto Kaiba, head of the multinational Kaiba Corp, as well as the shady HELL. For years now he has been trying to clone a human being."  
  
Malik paused.  
  
"I'll be blunt. Kaiba put all this together, not for the mere sake of advancing technology. Seven or so years ago now, his younger brother was killed."  
  
"Mokuba." Yugi breathed.  
  
Malik nodded. "Mokuba was 10 at the time. He was hit in broad daylight by a drunk driver. It wasn't a clean death like you normally see in the movies. Both his legs were broken, and he died six hours after the accident due to internal haemorrhaging. He died a slow, excruciating death. The driver committed suicide after sobering up. Kaiba never got his revenge.  
  
"I personally think that this whole little operation is revenge against fate, meant to rewrite destiny, but that would probably be giving Kaiba too much credit.  
  
"He wanted his brother back. Badly. Its traumatizing enough to lose the last member of your family at the age of 13, but to lose them in such a gruesome way must have really made a mark on our resident evil-genius' psyche.  
  
Kaiba had inherited millions, as well as Kaiba Corp from his deceased parents, and he immediately created HELL. As you people realise, after having seen Mokuba alive and well in that room, that Kaiba was right to believe in this technology. Sure, he hired a few crazies, and there were quite a few bumps in the road, but to Kaiba, the end justifies the means. He's a regular Machiavelli."  
  
Malik glanced up at his transfixed audience. Ryou shifted a bit.  
  
"That doesn't explain why Egyptian mummies were used." Ryou murmured.  
  
"Right you are." Malik replied.  
  
Silence.  
  
"Well, are you gonna fucking explain why they pillaged the Pharaoh's tomb or not?!" Bakura roared, white locks following his angry movements.  
  
Malik rolled his eyes.  
  
Ishtar, on the other hand smirked. "'Pillage'? Such a strong word Bakura, I didn't know you knew it."  
  
Bakura shot a glance at his former partner. "I could say the same."  
  
Yami's crimson eyes locked with Malik's. "I don't really care under what circumstances my tomb was plundered. I want to know why I'M here, and not some other mummified king. Actually, why not use someone who died recently?"  
  
"Good question. It one of those little details Kaiba edits out, but I've got a pretty good idea why. It's probably because your name doesn't appear in history, so no one would go looking for you. Also, Sugoroku hinted that the Egyptian authorities were not even aware that Kaiba Corp's archaeological branch had found your tomb. Doing things illegally avoids a lot of embarrassing questions like "Uh, what are you going to do with those mummies?"  
  
"The reason a more recent body was not used was simply because scientists wanted to make sure the body was old enough to have no traces of nuclear DNA. They just went a little overboard with the 3 000 year old mummy thing."  
  
"But I'm the 852501st specimen. There must have been countless others before me." Yami stated, regal instinct and the restrain of an assassin having held him back from disrupting Malik's speech.  
  
"Oh, there were. The carcasses are horrendous." Jou added, wincing.  
  
Malik nodded. "The scientists took up part time grave-robbing. Specimens of humans dating from 3 000 to 20 years ago were used."  
  
"But for some strange reason, we were the only successful cases." Ishtar murmured, deep in thought.  
  
"Yup. I have a whole religious explanation for that, care to hear it?" Malik grinned.  
  
Ishtar groaned, having heard some of Malik's theories. The rest of the group said nothing (though Yami arched an eyebrow, and Bakura's eye twitched, annoyed.).  
  
"Well, I think that, possibly, all religions are true. That means that I think that whatever YOU believe will happen to your soul happens. Now, Egyptians believed that that the Ka and Ba, body and soul, was judged and sent to the land of the dead or whatever."  
  
Ishtar let out a frustrated whine at Malik's brash explanation of his religion.  
  
"Anyways, the Egyptian concept of the afterlife was pretty nice for the time, you just kept going on as you did when alive. Sumerians thought your soul turned into a bird and you had to sit on a perch and eat dust. So yeah, the Egyptian afterlife is pretty sweet.  
  
"The Egyptian body and soul were probably the most connected. In most other religions the soul is something altogether separate from the body..."  
  
Ishtar rolled his eyes. "Could you PLEASE get to the point?"  
  
"Yes, yes." Malik waved off the comment. "Well, anyways, Egyptians believed that the body had to be preserved because one day the soul would return. THIS is very important. In other religions that don't deal with reincarnation, when you're dead, its over. But the Egyptian soul is ready to return to the body, thus, Bakura, Yami and Ishtar worked out the first time they were cloned. They have their souls. The other robots in HELL don't."  
  
"That's some pretty elaborate shit coming from a psycho like you." Bakura shot at Malik, who took this as a compliment and beamed.  
  
"But what about Mokuba then?" Yugi asked.  
  
"I'm not sure, but I think, that maybe, until his last breath, Mokuba was certain he'd see his older brother again." Malik murmured.  
  
The others were silent.  
  
"And he did." Jou murmured.  
  
"Yeah." Malik smiled.  
  
And no one had the heart to say anything else.  
  
* * * * * * *  
  
Another chapter of plot-hole fillers is coming up. If this chapter bored you to death, I'm so sorry. If there's any improvements you can think of, tell me and I'll try to add them to the next chapter.  
  
About Latin, I haven't studied it, but I hope to. I want to go into the classics, so I'll probably be forced to translate Greek and Latin texts when I get there. Until then I'm afraid you learned individuals will have to be patient with my attempt at Latin.  
  
(Sniffles) Ah, the common cold, how I abhor thee. Review so that I can continue soon. This cold is bound to debilitate me soon... and to think, all those projects that I need to do... 


	15. Finis

Hai, hai Jenna-sama. I must bow and comply.  
  
Lacuna 15- Finis  
  
Mokuba sat on the plush office carpet, back leaning against the hard wooden desk reading a book while his brother yelled at someone on the phone. This wasn't anything new, he yelled at people all the time... especially Malik (who recently got a bigger office). Mokuba had learned a while ago that Yugi and Yami were back in town, after having visited Egypt.  
  
The whole trip to Egypt had resulted in one of those yelling sprees that Seto was prone to. Apparently, it wasn't only Yugi and Yami that visited the ancient country, but also Bakura, Ryou, Malik and Ishtar. This in itself wasn't so bad, it was the fact that it was being paid for by Kaiba Corp. that provoked all that yelling. It would seem that Bakura, Malik and Ishtar had taken the opportunity to squeeze his brother's pockets for all they were worth. Seto seemed to think that they were trying to ruin him. Mokuba thought they were just doing it to piss him off.  
  
Did the authoress ever mention that Mokuba's a very perceptive kid?  
  
Which leads us to the current conversation...  
  
"Don't you DARE show your face here on Monday Malik!" Kaiba yelled into the phone.  
  
Laughter could be heard on the other end.  
  
"YES I CAN FIRE YOU!"  
  
More laughter. Mokuba noticed that Seto was turning an unhealthy shade of red.  
  
"You're worth nothing to me! And the world would be a better place without you and your pathetic excuse for a brain! ... I DON'T OWE YOU ANYTHING! If anything, you owe me millions for that little trip of yours!...... NO, I did not appreciate the donation you made in my name to the Anti-Graverobbing Association! I know that Ishtar and Bakura made that association up and that you're keeping my money you greedy son of a bitch!"  
  
Mokuba sighed, and turned his attention back to his book. He didn't understand why his brother hated Malik so much. Malik still came around from time to time to perform tests on him, and he was always very nice.  
  
Seto slammed his fist against the desk. "Letting Ishtar and Bakura take care of Mokuba so that you can take the time to break into my private safe—no, that code breaking tool is NOT neat—was completely unacceptable! If I ever see you again, I'll kill you personally! Those ruffians will NOT influence my little brother!"  
  
With this, Seto slammed the phone onto its receiver. The whole desk shook, and Mokuba got up, stretching the stiff muscles in his back. Seto sat back down in his leather chair, elbows leaning on the smooth wood as he rubbed his temples.  
  
Mokuba leaned on the desk, grinning at his brother. "You realise that he'll be here on Monday just to upset you Seto."  
  
"I wish I had put him at the beginning of Yami's list rather then at the end." Seto snarled.  
  
Mokuba shook his head, still grinning. "Killing him wouldn't do you any good. I'm sure he's made sure that, in the event of an untimely death, Kaiba Corp would pay for an elaborate funeral."  
  
Seto gave a distressed little whine. "You're right. I haven't looked over his life-insurance policy and that sounds exactly like something he would do."  
  
Mokuba smirked. "You really aught to be careful about the greedy insane scientists that you hire."  
  
Seto rolled his eyes. "I've hired plenty of insane scientists, and none of them are quite as greedy as that sob. We're going out to dinner, and we're leaving now before I destroy any of my own property." Seto took and deep breath as he crossed his lavish office to grab his coat.  
  
Mokuba gently put the book he was reading on his brother's desk. Seto let him stay with him while he worked, so he'd get to finish it tomorrow. Mokuba smiled to himself. To any other kid, spending the day reading while his brother worked might be boring, but to Mokuba, it was the best form of entertainment. Especially when Malik made an appearance.  
  
"Where going to a restaurant—nothing Mediterranean—and then we're going to that toy store you like so much. After that, I'm hiring a hit man. Malik wont be coming in on Monday."  
  
Wishful thinking. It happens to the best of us.  
  
* * * * *  
  
Yami softly stoked Yugi cheek. His angel was asleep, leaning against his shoulder. Yami ran his fingers through Yugi's soft hair, revelling at the sensation. His fingers ran through the silk gently, every nerve focused on the act.  
  
To be able to feel, that was what Yami loved the most.  
  
He knew that some of the older models were deprived of this need. It must have been awful for them. Sensatory deprivation was, Yami thought, one of the worst forms of torture.  
  
But there are a lot of ways to hurt people. It's simple to hurt someone: an unkind word, a physical blow......... or just forgetting about them.  
  
'I forgot Yugi. It may not have been intentional, but it happened all the same. I hurt my light.' Yami thought to himself, and not for the first time since he stepped out of HELL, his heart ached.  
  
Yugi stirred softly, and soon Yugi's hazy eyes settled on Yami's sharp gaze.  
  
Yugi smiled softly. "How long have you been watching me?"  
  
Yami's gaze softened. Smiling, he closed his eyes and gently kissed the top of Yugi's head.  
  
"Not long." Was the answer that Yami breathed out.  
  
Yugi melted with that affectionate gesture. He curled up closer to Yami, eager to be closer to the warm body. Yami's reserved personality made moments like this rare and precious.  
  
A familiar head of white hair glared at them from the stairs.  
  
"Once you two are done staring into each others eyes like you always do you romantic saps, you'll be so kind as to help me with Ryou's math homework. Now get off your arses. You had an excuse while Yugi was sleeping, now you must all suffer." Bakura sneered.  
  
Yami rolled his eyes and mentally cursed. Another perfect moment ruined. Why did those damn tomb raiders always have to be around? Couldn't they just die the first time?  
  
Yugi rubbed the sleep out of his eyes and went up to join Ryou and Bakura who were reviewing schoolwork they had missed while in Egypt. Yugi gave Yami a tender glance before disappearing up the stairs.  
  
Yami ran his fingers through his hair and sighed deeply. As much as he hated Bakura and Ishtar, the tomb raiders weren't really all that bad. Actually, they were downright useful when it came to making Seto Kaiba's life a living hell.  
  
"Speaking of which, I need to visit the bloody bastard." Yami muttered to himself. "I made my decision... I wont be regaining my former memories, so I may as well give him back the millennium puzzle, it's of no use to me. I'll be creating my own memories. My body may be manufactured, but my mind wont be. It's my own... like my light."  
  
With a barely hidden smile, Yami joined the others.  
  
* * * * *  
  
Somewhere not so far away...  
  
Malik was smiling almost a little too happily.  
  
"I've done it. Of course I have, I'm brilliant. Kaiba can't even dream of firing me. Useless indeed. Replaceable! HA! I've once again proved him wrong. I'm moving up in the world... I'm getting a bigger office!"  
  
This speech was followed by maniacal laughter.  
  
Ishtar poked his head into the room, eye twitching. "What is so damn amusing?"  
  
Malik glanced up at him, eyes shining. "I've solved The Equation."  
  
"The Equation." Ishtar repeated slowly.  
  
"Yes, The Equation." Malik said happily.  
  
Ishtar, hunched over a cup of coffee stalked over to Malik's side and glanced down at the indecipherable scribble written on the page.  
  
"Well? What's so great about 'The Equation'?" Ishtar asked.  
  
Malik rolled his eyes. "You're not supposed to be a simpleton Ishtar, but since you are not yet up to par with my superior intelligence, I shall explain it to you. THIS, is the key to creating a breed of 'super humans'!"  
  
Ishtar stared.  
  
And then proceeded to dumping his cup of coffee onto Malik's papers.  
  
"NOOOO! My work! My office!" Malik screamed.  
  
He was promptly shut up by Ishtar kissing him deeply. Any more word of protest died in his throat. The blond Egyptian then pulled back.  
  
"I love you Malik, but by Ra find another hobby then playing the Maker, or else I will kill you."  
  
Ishtar then stalked off, leaving a flabbergasted Malik behind.  
  
"Yeah, like your hobby of pissing off Kaiba is respectable... not that I'm complaining..." Malik muttered. He then glanced at the saturated papers.  
  
Coffee trickled down the desk.  
  
"Now I wonder why he wouldn't want me to play with people's lives for my own considerable amusement?"  
  
Malik pondered this for a moment.  
  
After a few moments, his face lit up. "I understand. He must be jealous. He must be worried that I would love my new creation more then him! That would never happen my lovely Ishtar... though I may pay more attention to it... and coddle it more..."  
  
Malik trailed off, pausing his self reflection.  
  
"How could I have been so stupid!" He cried out, "I'll do whatever you say my love! I promise not to meddle in people's lives (Kaiba's excluded, of course) and never attempt to create someone superior to you!"  
  
"Shut up, that's not possible!" Ishtar shouted from the other room.  
  
Malik smiled and sauntered off.  
  
The End  
  
* * *  
  
Well, that's it. After over a year, I've finished it. Thank you to those who wrote such lovely reviews, and also to those who tolerated my irregular writing habits. ^_^;  
  
I haven't learned Latin, though I will be next year, in University ... those readers that have had the chance to study the language, what area are you guys from? I thought it was taken out of the curriculum in most schools? ^.^ 


End file.
